On May 3, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida visited Myanmar and held a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar.

Kishida promised that Japan would fully support Myanmar’s democratization and development. More specifically, Japan plans to support Myanmar in employment, health, education, agriculture, infrastructure construction, finance and more. Japan will establish a Myanmar medical school in mid-May to train people on how to use modern medical equipment.

“Myanmar is in its initial stage of development, with plentiful resources and challenges. Now would be a great time to tap into the market, especially as it relates to national interests,” said a scholar from Yunnan University. “But Myanmar will also make its own choice to find a balance among all the other countries.”

Myanmar is the second stop of Kishida’s visit to Southeast Asia. On May 1, when he was in Thailand, Kishida described Thailand as Japan’s “strategic partner,” and as being “key” to improving development in the Mekong River area. Kishida also promised that Japan would make an investment of 750 billion yen in Southeast Asia in the next three years.

The BBC pointed out that Japan’s promise of investment could be taken as a provocation of China, since China just provided concessional loans for ASEAN member states to build high-speed rails. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported that, based on the close cooperative relationship between China and Southeast Asian countries, Kishida’s visit was likely intended, among other things, as a reminder of Japan’s existence in the region.