Events in Myanmar this week have shocked the world. Yet while the West has moved rapidly to designate the military takeover as a coup, China has made no such determination – maintaining instead a neutral and non-committal position on the neighbouring country’s internal turmoil, and rejecting any political or moral judgments on it.

While this position is neither new nor surprising, it has a fully justified internal logic. However, Myanmar’s unexpected political developments will inevitably introduce challenges and uncertainties for bilateral relations down the road.

Geographical proximity, as well as the pair’s comprehensive and complicated historical, ethnic, political and economic ties, mean that whoever is in power in Naypyidaw will want to maintain a positive relationship with Beijing.

Read the full article in the South China Morning Post.