July 28: A top Chinese diplomat’s decision to back out of a regional security meeting in Laos in favor of a visit to Rangoon came only a day after the military-ruled Burma backed out of an opportunity to assume the chair of Asean in 2006.

Originally planning to stay until Friday, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing cut short his meeting with the 24-member Asean Regional Forum in Vientiane Wednesday and headed off to the Burmese capital. When asked the reason for his change of plans, Li said only that Burma was “the only country in Asean I’ve never visited.”

Li is now the fourth top diplomat to skip the annual security forum, following US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Japanese foreign minister Nobutaka Machimura and India’s foreign minister Natawar Singh.

Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon expressed concern and surprise at “the last minute take-off of the Chinese foreign minister.”

Li is expected to meet with the Burmese junta’s top brass, including Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Prime Minister Soe Win.

Officials at the Chinese embassy in Rangoon were unavailable to comment on the matter, though Aung Kyaw Zaw, a China-based dissident, quoted China’s Foreign Office in Beijing as saying that “only low-level diplomats remain for the forum and that’s the reason why he left the meeting.”

Observers, however, believe that Beijing wanted Rangoon to accept the Asean chair next year and are upset with the regional grouping and the junta for failing to secure it. “For China, it’s a defeat on the diplomatic front in the face of western power,” said Nyo Ohn Myint, a member of the exiled National League for Democracy-Liberated Area’s foreign affairs committee. “I think China is worried that the junta’s attitude attracts western interference.”

Li is the second diplomat to visit Burma this week, with Thailand’s deputy prime minister Surakiart Sathirathai having made a one-day trip on Monday. On his return, Surakiart said that he discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation with the regime to help the suppression of narcotics and human trafficking.