After welcoming Burma's Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt on July 7th. in Peking, Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao expressed hope that Burma will, in his words, "accelerate political reconciliation and the democratic process."
Professor Josef Silverstein, a visiting lecturer in Southeast Asian studies at Princeton University said he considered it a very signicficant statement because China is probably the greatest of all foreign countries to have influence over Burma.
Dr. Aung Khin, a London historian, however disgrees, saying China and Burma have so much in common in many respects.
U Nyo Ohn Myint, a member of National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Foreign Affairs Department believed that because both countries avoid interferring in each other's internal affairs and China making such a statement, Burma would find China's concern hard to ignore.