New Delhi, Sept. 17 -- For the first time since the 2021 coup, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing made a state visit to China, attending both the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and the World War II victory day parade in Beijing. The visit, extended at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, carried significance beyond ceremonial diplomacy. It came at a moment when the international community is scrutinizing Myanmar's political trajectory after the junta's dissolution of four years of emergency rule and its promise of elections as a pathway out of prolonged instability.

The SCO summit emerged as a testing ground for this political reconfiguration, with Myanmar's immediate neighbors, China and India, engaging Senior General Min Aung ...