Myanmar's deadliest natural disaster in years has strengthened the position of ruling Gen. Min Aung Hlaing by opening up diplomatic channels closed for four years after the junta he leads ousted an elected government to unleash a brutal civil war.
Just before Friday's magnitude 7.7 quake killed more than 2,700, the junta chief was preparing for a rare foreign visit to a regional summit in Thailand, as aides worked the phones to arrange meetings with other leaders.
It is still unclear if Min Aung Hlaing will attend the BIMSTEC grouping's summit in Bangkok this week, but the disaster has helped end his isolation by most world leaders over a war that displaced 3.5 million and decimated the economy. BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, comprises Thailand, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
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