Obama and Li show US and Chinese eagerness to win influence in Burma

Competition between China and the United States for regional influence in Asia is one of the big geopolitical stories and is set to remain so.

Against this background, the arrival in Burma, also known as Myanmar, of Chinese premier Li Keqiang hot on the heels of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation meeting in the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw is particularly significant.

Mr Li was in town for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the presidency of which Burma holds this year.

While he didn't meet the country's opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, he brought a new aid package and series of deals and spoke about China's desire to expand infrastructural links.

China has become Burma’s largest trading partner, second export market and its primary source of imports. Mr Li was keen to show China was not just interested in Burma’s oil and gas resources.

In 2011, President Thein Sein suspended the €2.9 billion Myitsone dam project, which was being built by China, with most of its power destined for China.

Also attending Asean was US president Barack Obama, and here you can see a difference of approach, as he raised political issues and made sure Aung San Suu Kyi was definitely on his list of official visits.

Mr Obama said in an interview with Irrawaddy magazine that the government had made some progress on political and economic reforms but also seemed to have fallen behind on others.

This was quite a trip for Mr Obama for getting dressed up – after the traditional Chinese costume in Beijing for Apec he now donned a traditional Burmese shirt for the team photo at the start of the talks.

The leaders all joined hands as the Asean anthem was playing – it was not clear how many of the political grandees were familiar with the words.