The foreign ministers of China and Myanmar met on Tuesday in Nay Pyi Daw, Aung San Suu Kyi's first official act in international diplomacy since being appointed Myanmar's foreign minister.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) shakes hands with the National League for Democracy party leader and Myanmar's new Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi in Nay Pyi Daw, Myanmar, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Analysts said they consider the meeting between Wang Yi and Suu Kyi a gesture of goodwill from both governments and reflects the weight of Sino-Myanmar ties in the eyes of Myanmar's new administration.

China expects to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with Myanmar, foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said on Tuesday, adding that Wang will also meet other Myanmar leaders.

"The importance placed on China is a consequence of Myanmar's geographic location as well as China's political and economic influence," Zhang Weiyu, a Myanmar and Southeast Asian researcher at the Institute of Modern International Relations of Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.

Zhang said that both countries are keen to improve bilateral ties following Myanmar's political transition, and the new administration's campaign to improve people's livelihood and end ethnic conflicts requires China's support.

China is Myanmar's biggest trading partner but relations between the two countries have been tested.

The two countries share a border dotted with ethnic groups fighting the former Myanmar government.

Last year, conflicts between ethnic groups and government forces spilled across the border as a misjudged bombing by the Myanmar Air Force killed four Chinese citizens in a border town in Yunnan Province.

Meanwhile, the China-backed Myitsone hydropower project and Letpadaung copper mine were suspended by the Thein Sein government following local protests.

"The rule of the new administration led by the NLD is based on a public mandate. China in the past has dealt mainly with the government as the main focus of its Myanmar policy. What China lacks in today's Myanmar is civil diplomacy," Zhang noted, adding that China needs to win the Myanmar public's friendship and trust.

The new civilian administration, led by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), was sworn in on Thursday.

Suu Kyi, who is constitutionally barred from becoming president, visited Beijing in 2014, where she met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Analysts said Suu Kyi, who has long been hailed as a democratic icon, has shown she can also be a pragmatic politician. "As the 'de facto' leader of Myanmar, Suu Kyi must put Myanmar's national interests above everything else … While governing the country, she must come up with solid measures. In this regard, ideology does not have an absolute advantage," Jin Canrong, vice director of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.