During his visit, Thein Sein is expected to discuss in depth the issue of China's navy docking in Burmese ports, and the Chinese desire to provide naval protection for its oil and gas facilities at the Burmese seaport of Kyaukpyu in the Bay of Bengal.

Informed sources have said that Chinese officials are not suggesting a Chinese navy base in Burma, but simply having the permission to dock their warships at Burma's ports while they are patrolling the Indian Ocean and Somali coast.

Returning from a counter-piracy operation in the Indian Ocean in August 2010, two warships, the Guangzhou and the Chaohu, docked at Thilawa Port, near Rangoon, for a five-day visit.

Other issues of mutual concern, such as border security, military relations and business agreements, are expected to take a back seat on this particular visit.

China has also played a friendly intermediary role between Burma and North Korea since the two countries formally restored diplomatic relations in 2007.

Interestingly, the previous regime’s secret military missions to North Korea were taken via China.

It can safely be said that Beijing approves of and backs Burma’s desire to develop military contacts with North Korea. Overall, it looks like China’s role as a big brother to Burma will continue, and we can foresee China and Burma developing deeper military ties.

China also protects Burma from the teeth of the UN Security Council.

Various Burmese military leaders have either quietly or openly expressed admiration for China’s economic growth—it is the model they want to follow in their quest for economic reform. In fact, they fondly talk about Shanghai’s skyscrapers, with no mention of New York.

No doubt then that China is an important ally for the repressive regime to fend off the scathing opinions of Western governments, which have long criticized the junta’s appalling human rights records and are now backing the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma. China protects the regime and bullies the Western critics to back off any Naypyidaw when it faces a crucial censure or resolution.

Since November's deeply flawed election has won international backing, Chinese officials will strengthen their hand with the confidence that Naypyidaw owes them, and that they have much more to gain from Burma’s new government.

Ambassador Li praised Thein Sein's first presidential speech delivered, suggesting that it provided a strong signal to the people of Burma and the international community that the new government will make greater efforts in developing the economy, speed up its rate of opening doors to the outside world, improve the living standards of its people, and strengthen the ties between different nationalities based on foundations laid by the previous government.

Li told Xinhua that Burma’s new government is more self-confident and more active diplomatically, after seeing Thein Sein at the Asean Summit in Indonesia.

Consequently, as Beijing spreads its wings of influence in Asia, Thein Sein's visit will be seen as an important step in ensuring that close neighbor Burma remains a strategic ally in the foreseeable future.

It doesn’t matter to Beijing how many political prisoners are being locked up or how many ethnic minorities are slaughtered in the ongoing civil war in Burma—as long as the regime is stable, and China’s national interests are untouched.

To Chinese, as the saying goes—it doesn't matter whether it is a white cat or a black cat, as long as it can catch mice.