"China’s long-term strategic interests of seeing Myanmar as a “land bridge” to reach the Indian Ocean will continue to drive Beijing’s strategy. This interdependency defining the relationship is unlikely to change in the near future. Myanmar’s diplomatic balancing is under stress in the face of the West distancing from Naypyidaw over the country’s handling of the Rohingya crisis. As in the past, Naypyidaw is tilting towards its northern neighbour for both political and economic support and Beijing is fully leveraging the situation to its advantage, but it will be a bumpy road. After years of close strategic relations during Myanmar’s military rule, China-Myanmar relations plunged into a phase of uncertainty when Myanmar military regime decided to take the path of democratisation in 2010. In the following years, Myanmar’s suspension of two China-funded projects — the Myitsone hydropower project in 2011 and the Letpedaung coppermine in 2013 — marked the beginning of a troubled relationship. Beijing recalibrated its policy towards Myanmar to suit the changing times with the aim to arrest growing anti-Chinese sentiments in the Southeast Asian nation and to safeguard its core strategic interests including limiting strategic ties between Naypyidaw and Washington. When the Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) government took office in 2016, contrary to popular perceptions, it adopted a balanced policy towards China and the West. Beijing’s Myanmar policy revision may have paid off, but it was Naypyidaw’s conscious strategic balancing that allowed the diplomatic equilibrium to evolve..."