Myanmar's embattled junta chief arrived in China Tuesday -- his first reported visit since leading a coup in 2021 -- but analysts say the invitation is only a lukewarm endorsement from his key ally and could backfire.

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will travel to key ally China this week, both countries said Monday, in his first known trip there since seizing power in a 2021 coup.

SINGAPORE - On Nov 5, Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing set foot on China for the first time since staging a coup in 2021. He was visiting Kunming as a representative of Myanmar in the Greater Mekong Subregion Summit of Leaders, a meeting held every three years involving China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The delegation is known to include Shwe Than Lwin Group’s Kyaw Win, as well as Xiao Sen, who was behind a shady, now-suspended development project in Yangon a decade ago.

Since the coup Myanmar has been in chaos, including areas along its border with China, as an armed resistance movement combined with established ethnic minority militias to wrest control of large territories from the military government.

By Shoon Naing, Wa Lone, Devjyot Ghoshal, Poppy McPherson, Antoni Slodkowski BANGKOK/BEIJING -When an alliance led by three rebel armies seized swathes of territory near Myanmar's border with China from the military junta last October,