The year of 2012 witnessed further development of China-Myanmar friendly relations characterized by frequent exchanges of high level visits.
In February, U Shwe Mann, Speaker of Myanmar's Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) visited China and met with Mr. Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress as well as Mr. Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Mr. Wang Gang, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People' s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and Mr. Meng Jianzhu, State Councilor and Minister of Public Security visited Myanmar in May and July respectively.
In September, Chairman Wu Bangguo paid an official goodwill visit to Myanmar and held meetings or talks with President U Thein Sein, Speaker of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hluttaw, U Khin Aung Myint and Speaker of Pyithu Hluttaw U Shwe Mann.
In the same month, Myanmar President U Thein Sein attended the 9th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) held in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region where he met with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. Earlier the President also visited Shaanxi and Guangdong Provinces of China and had a stopover at Kunming.
U Khin Aung Myint, Speaker of Myanmar's Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Union Parliament) and Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House), also traveled to China in September to attend the ceremony in commemoration of the World Peace Day held in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province.
The frequent exchange of high-level visits between the two countries further promoted the political trust and mutually beneficial cooperations between China and Myanmar.
The people to people exchanges also marked fruitful results in 2012.
A Chinese Buddhist delegation visited Myanmar in February attending a ceremony marking the 2600th anniversary of the founding of the Shwedagon Pagoda of Myanmar. After the ceremony, the Beijing Lingguang Temple of China and the Shwedagon Pagoda of Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing friendly relationship between the two sides.
In April, the Chinese National Acrobatic Troupe staged charity performance in Yangon, Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay and was warmly received by the Myanmar audience. All box-office income totaling 11.4 million kyats from the performances was donated to the Myanmar Library Foundation for the establishment of libraries in the rural areas.
Sponsored by the China NGO Network for International Exchange (CNIE) and China Foundation for Peace and Development (CFPD), a series of China-Myanmar "Deep Fraternal Friendship" activities was launched in Yangon in May, including cultural performances, "Brightness Action", joint establishment of an eye-care center, donation of computers to primary schools and business matching of small and medium enterprises. The "Brightness Action", a charitable medical activity sponsored by China, was conducted for the second time when the Chinese doctors undertook free surgeries for 361 Myanmar cataract patients, helping them regain visual visions.
In September, Ambassador Li Junhua, on behalf of the Red Cross Society of China, donated 50,000 U.S. Dollars to the Myanmar Red Cross Society to help the local residents hit hard by the flood in southern part of Myanmar.
This year also saw increased media exchanges between two countries. Reporters and editors from both public and private media institutions of Myanmar, such as Popular News, 7 Day News, Voice Weekly, Yangon Times, Weekly Eleven, Myanmar Times, Myanmar Post Global, MRTV, Skynet and etc. travelled to China, undertaking interviews with Chinese officials, experts, businessmen as well as their counterparts in China.
Chinese Film Festival 2012 was held in Yangon, Myanmar from 15 to 20 Oct.. 6 Chinese popular movies were screened in the festival.
All those events represented the profound friendship, and exhibited the breadth and depth between the two peoples.