CHIANG MAI, Thailand — China supports a plan by Myanmar's junta to hold fresh elections and return the conflict-torn country to a "democratic transition," Beijing's foreign minister said Friday.

The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since the military deposed the government of Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power in 2021.

The coup upended a ten-year experiment with democracy, and a subsequent military crackdown has sparked fighting with established ethnic minority armed groups and newer pro-democracy "People's Defense Forces."

China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta, but analysts said it also maintains ties with ethnic groups fighting the military in Myanmar's northern Shan state.

"We support Myanmar in achieving domestic political reconciliation within the framework of its constitution... and restarting the process of democratic transition through elections," Wang Yi said at a regional meeting in Thailand's Chiang Mai.

The junta has promised to hold fresh elections but has repeatedly delayed a timetable for polls as it struggles to crush opposition to its coup across the country.

Earlier this week, Wang met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw and "discussed and exchanged views openly regarding... free and fair multi-party general elections," according to the junta.

Myanmar is deeply divided by conflict, with civilians caught up in near-daily bomb blasts, targeted killings and clashes between the military and opponents of its coup.

The military has acknowledged it does not fully control parts of the country and, in February, activated a long-dormant conscription law to replenish its ranks.

It has said it will hold polls next year after conducting a nationwide census.

Last year, the junta banned Suu Kyi's widely popular National League for Democracy party that won a landslide in the 2020 elections, trouncing its military-backed rival.

The junta has cited unsubstantiated claims of massive fraud during those polls as the reason for its coup.

The United States has said any elections under the junta would be a "sham," while analysts say polls would be targeted by the military's opponents and spark further bloodshed.

Russia, a close ally of the isolated junta, has previously said it backs the generals' plan for polls.

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