1st Ld-Writethru: Chinese FM voices confidence in ties with Myanmar

Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed confidence in the China-Myanmar relations Tuesday, noting that the friendship is "strong and dynamic."

The relations between the two countries will not be weakened by the changes in Myanmar's domestic situation, Wang told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, in Myanmar has kept friendly contact with China, Wang said, in response to a question about China's expectation of Myanmar's new government to be sworn in by the end of this month.

"Our mutual understanding and trust has been growing," he said. "We have every confidence about Myanmar's future."

Commenting on the Myitsone hydropower project and the country's other investment in Myanmar, Wang admitted that there are some difficulties in cooperation, but dismissed them as "growing pains."

The Myitsone hydropower project, jointly invested by China and Myanmar, is estimated to yield 29,400 million kilowatt-hours a year on completion that was earlier scheduled by 2019, with an installed capacity of 6,000 megawatts (mw). The construction started in December 2009 but was suspended in 2011.

Wang stressed that the Myitsone dam is a commercial project that has been through all approval procedures.

"The two sides will continue to manage in an appropriate way. We also have every confidence of win-win cooperation between the two countries," he said. Endi