"What role does Burma really play in Beijing?s policy plans? Eleven bilateral agreements. A commitment to cooperate in the war on drugs and cross-frontier crime. And a large measure of mutual praise. Those were the official and much-publicized results of the week-long visit to China in mid-July by Burmese Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt. ... Central to China?s regional concerns is its very real interest in seeing a stable and economically viable Burmese state on its western frontiers. Some Chinese officials have openly linked stability to "democracy", and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue is on record as urging a "good internal and external environment for Myanmar?s [Burma?s] democratization"..."