"WEEKS before the visit by President Xi Jinping, local media outlets were focusing on the relationship between China and Myanmar. I especially enjoyed two cartoons drawn by Myanmar cartoonists before Xi arrived. One showed a fat Chinese man dressed in red talking to three men sitting on the floor. “When we visit, we don’t want to hear any noises,” he’s saying. The three men, who are wearing uniforms and have rifles beside them, reply, “Yes”. The other cartoon is in two blocks, one above the other. The top one shows rats running in circles and antagonising each other. The bottom image shows the rats all smiles with arms around each other’s shoulders as a big red cat clad in the flag of the People’s Republic of China enters the room with a stern expression. Support more independent journalism like this. Sign up to be a Frontier member. The cartoons were caustic comments on the recent quiescence of ethnic armed groups. In the days ahead of Xi’s arrival, the guns of war were indeed silent..."