China media calling Myanmar's military coup a 'major cabinet reshuffle'; Xi govt in a fix?

China on Monday reacted guardedly to the military coup in neighbouring Myanmar ousting de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her governing party, calling on all to properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework and uphold political stability in the country.

'Major cabinet reshuffle announced in Myanmar' 

Meanwhile, the Chinese media is calling the military coup in Myanmar and replacement of officials with army men a "major cabinet reshuffle". "Myanmar military announced a major cabinet reshuffle hours after the country declared the state of emergency on Monday," Chinese Communist Party's official mouthpiece Xinhua reported. 

Under the cabinet reshuffle, new union ministers were appointed for 11 ministries while 24 deputy ministers were removed from their posts, the military's televised statement said, according to Xinhua. 

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing after being asked for China’s reaction to the coup that "we have noted what happened in Myanmar, and we are learning more information.”

'China is a friendly neighbour of Myanmar'

“China is a friendly neighbour of Myanmar. We hope that all parties in Myanmar will properly handle their differences under the constitutional and legal framework and uphold political and social stability,” he said, parrying questions over reports that the coup was a setback to Beijing, especially to the USD nine billion China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), which provides access to China to the Indian Ocean.

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He also declined to answer the question of whether China would join several other countries who have condemned the coup. “I stated China's position on this issue,” Wang said and reiterated Beijing’s stand that all parties should properly handle their differences.

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The coup has put Beijing in a quandary as it had moved closer to Suu Kyi in recent years in sharp contrast to backing to the two-decade-long rule of the military junta, PTI quoted observers as saying. Contrary to expectations, Suu Kyi, after her election, warmed up to China despite the fact that Beijing for decades had maintained close ties with Myanmar's military, expanding its influence in the country during her long years of incarceration.

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Myanmar was the last country Chinese President Xi Jinping visited in January 2020, just days before the dreaded coronavirus hit China and later emerged as a global pandemic. 

According to media reports, an announcer on Myanmar's military-owned Myawaddy TV declared on Monday morning that the military had taken control of the country for one year. Myanmar's leader Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party have been detained in an early morning raid, the spokesman for the governing National League for Democracy (NLD) was quoted as saying in the media.

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(With agency inputs)