China welcomes Burma's junta leader

China provides extensive military assistance to Burma

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes BBC correspondent, Beijing

The leader of Burma's military junta, General Than Shwe, has held a second day of talks in Beijing with senior Chinese leaders.

On Wednesday he met with the newly appointed head of China's Communist Party, Hu Jintao.

Vice President Hu Jintao greeted the general

Burma's leaders are shunned by the rest of the world, but in China they are welcomed.

And the growing friendship between them is making some of their neighbours nervous.

There are very few places in the world these days where the leader of Burma's military junta can expect a warm welcome, but in Beijing that's exactly what General Than Shwe and his entourage have been getting.

Worries of instability

China's leader-in-waiting, Vice President Hu Jintao was the latest to line up to greet him and the warmth is being backed by money - $200m in low interest loans, according to China's official media.

China's growing interest in Burma is in part driven by worries of instability along its southern border.

Burma is the source of most of the heroin flooding into China, creating up to four million addicts and helping to spread Aids.

Beijing wants Rangoon's assistance in stemming that flow.

But other aspects of the relationship are causing greater disquiet amongst Burma's neighbours.

In recent years China is reported to have supplied several billion US dollars' worth of weapons and military assistance to Rangoon - weapons that have helped to secure the regime and to prolong a bloody internal conflict against minority groups.

India, in particular, is concerned by Beijing's growing military ties with Rangoon, so much so that New Delhi is reported to have stepped up its own efforts to rebuild links with the junta.