Myanmar’s ambassador to China, U Myo Thant Pae, died on Sunday, Myanmar’s state media reported. He died in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming.
After his death, Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a condolence message but did not give a cause of death. Four foreign ambassadors died in China in the last one year. Reuters news.
Diplomats in Beijing and a Chinese-language media outlet in Myanmar said Thant Pa may have died of a heart attack. The Chinese embassy in Myanmar was contacted for comment but the authorities did not respond.
Last Saturday, he was seen meeting with local officials in China’s southwestern province of Yunnan. Myo Thant was appointed as ambassador to China in 2019. He remained in this position after the military seized power in a coup in February 2021.
Thant Pey is the fourth ambassador to die in China in the past year. His predecessor, Jan Hecker, 54, the German ambassador, died less than two weeks after being appointed to Beijing last September. Ukraine’s ambassador Serhiy Kamyshev, 65, died in February shortly after visiting Beijing’s Winter Olympics venue.
Then in April, Philippine ambassador Jose Santiago (74) died while in quarantine in China’s eastern province of Anhui.
