"When Xi Jinping travels to Myanmar on January 17, it will be the first visit by a sitting Chinese president since Jiang Zemin toured the country in December 2001. Xi’s visit will show just how much times have changed between now and then. Jiang visited Myanmar when it was still ruled by a military junta and China was the then isolated nation’s closest ally. Xi, on the other hand, will be meeting democratically elected leaders and China is no longer the country’s only important partner. Countries such as Japan and India are now vying for influence by offering various kinds of assistance — economic, political and in the case of India even military — to challenge China’s previously dominant role. But in a curious twist of events, Myanmar’s still-powerful and autonomous military is the one wary of China and its intentions. The top brass see it as their duty to protect the country’s sovereignty, while nominal leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a politician who wants here government to be re-elected this year, has turned to Beijing for economic and other assistance after her previous allies and admirers in the West distanced themselves from her over the Rohingya refugee crisis..."