On Monday, state media reported that Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi will be heading to Beijing to seek their assistance on the issue amidst the growing global criticism over the Rohingya crisis.
Myanmar has been battling against the pressure from the West regarding their armed forces' response to the August attacks where a security post was attacked by Rohingya Muslim militants in the western part of the Rakhine state. The United States and the United Nations both accused Myanmar of "ethnic cleansing" and called for the government to hold the military responsible for the alleged killings, rape and arson of Rohingya people that caused more than 620,000 of them to flee to Bangladesh.
China has supported Myanmar's stance that it is a legitimate counter-insurgency operation and stepped in to assist the country to prevent the UN Security Council to resolve the issue itself.
The visit of Suu Kyi comes after President Xi Jinping and Chinese military leaders met up Myanmar's army chief Min Aung Hlaing last week and pledged the country's support.
According to the report of Global New Light of Myanmar, Suu Kyi will be departing for Beijing to attend a Communist Party of China-hosted forum for world leaders this week. Xinhua reports that the meetings for the forum will begin on Thursday and end on December 3.
Myanmar is also on focus this week as Pope Francis is currently on an apostolic visit in the country, the first visit of the Catholic church's head to the Buddhist-majority country. Pope Francis has been very vocal over the treatment of minority Muslims in Myanmar, especially as Myanmar continues to deny them citizenship. Some Christians have feared possible implications of the Pope's speech regarding the issue as they believe it may trigger a backlash.
