China says it will back neighbor Myanmar "no matter how the situation changes," in the latest show of unequivocal Chinese support for the ruling military council that seized power last year. China "has always placed Myanmar in an important position in its neighborly diplomacy" and wants to "deepen exchanges and cooperation," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Myanmar counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin on Friday, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. "No matter how the situation changes, China will support Myanmar in safeguarding its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity," Wang said. (https://www.msn.com/en-my/news/world/china-to-back-myanmar-no-matter-how-the-situation-changes/ar-AAVM1wx) Myanmar's military, which ousted the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, has continued to face resistance that now amounts to what some U.N. experts have characterized as a civil war. In return for Chinese diplomatic support and material assistance, Myanmar has been a loyal ally of Beijing within the nine-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.