China wants closer military ties with Myanmar's army

China wants closer ties with Myanmar's army to help protect regional peace and security, a senior Chinese general told the visiting head of the southeast Asian country's army.

China and Myanmar have had close diplomatic and economic ties for years, including increasingly in the strategically important oil and gas sectors.

Meeting in Beijing, Li Zuocheng, who sits on China's Central Military Commission, which runs its armed forces, told Senior General Min Aung Hlaing that China's development and prosperity were an important opportunity for Myanmar's development, China's Defence Ministry said in a statement.

"In the face of a complex and changeable regional security situation, China is willing to maintain strategic communication between the two countries' militaries," Li was cited as saying in the statement issued late on Wednesday.

Myanmar's army stands accused of atrocities

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state, most to neighbouring Bangladesh, since the army launched a brutal crackdown in the wake of militant attacks on police border posts and an army base.

The UN and rights monitors accuse Myanmar’s military of atrocities, including killings, mass rape and arson, targeting Rohingya in so-called 'clearance operations'.

The US on Wednesday for the first time called the Myanmar military operation against the Rohingya "ethnic cleansing" and threatened targeted sanctions against those responsible for "horrendous atrocities."

China's plan to solve crisis 

China has proposed a three-phase plan for resolving the Rohingya crisis, and won the support of Myanmar and Bangladesh last week. 

The Chinese plan starts with a ceasefire in Myanmar's Rakhine state "so that local residents can no longer be displaced."

It then moves to calls for the international community to encourage Myanmar and Bangladesh to keep up talks to find a "feasible solution" after the two nations reached an initial agreement on the repatriation of refugees.  

China has been angered by fighting between Myanmar's military and autonomy-seeking ethnic minority rebels close to the Chinese border in recent years, which has at times forced thousands of villagers to flee into China.

The Chinese ministry made no direct mention of the Rohingya issue in its statement on Wednesday.

Western engagement

The US and other Western countries have stepped up engagement with Myanmar since the military began handing power to civilians in 2011, and especially since former democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a 2015 election.

But an international outcry over Myanmar's treatment of Rohingya has raised questions in Western countries about that engagement.

Rights group Amnesty International has called for a comprehensive arms embargo against Myanmar as well as targeted financial sanctions against senior Myanmar military officials.

Pope visit to Myanmar

Catholic Pope Francis will meet the head of Myanmar's army and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, both late additions to a tour of the two countries next week.

The Vatican confirmed on Wednesday that Francis would meet with Rohingya Muslims during an inter-religious meeting in neighbouring Dhaka, Bangladesh, on December 1.

Myanmar's Catholic leaders have urged Francis against using the term "Rohingya," calling it "political" and "contested."

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke declined to say if Francis would use "Rohingya" during the visit, which begins Monday with Francis' arrival in Yangon and ends December 2 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

In the past, Francis has condemned the "persecution of our Rohingya brothers," denounced their suffering and called for them to receive "full rights."

Myanmar's government says the Rohingya are "Bengalis" who migrated illegally from Bangladesh. It does not recognise the Muslim minority as a local ethnic group even though they have lived in Myanmar for generations.