Min Aung Hlaing told Li at a meeting in the southwestern city of Kunming that the military was ready for peace if armed groups would engage, according to an account of the meeting in the Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM).
Myanmar has been racked by conflict between the military and various armed groups opposed to its rule since the army ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in February 2021.
The junta is reeling from a major rebel offensive last year that seized a large area of territory, much of it near the border with China.
"The door of peace is always open if they genuinely want peace," Min Aung Hlaing told Li, according to the GNLM report.
"The armed insurgents should do what needs to be done instead of giving priority to their needs and wishes."
China has been a major arms supplier to the junta and provided Myanmar with political backing even as other countries shun the generals over their brutal crackdown on dissent.
But Beijing is concerned about the chaos unfolding on its doorstep, in particular the growth of online scam compounds in Myanmar, run by and targeting Chinese citizens.
In its report of the Kunming meeting, on the sidelines of a regional summit, China's state news agency Xinhua said Li had stressed the need to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens and projects in Myanmar.
Last month, a blast targeted the Chinese consulate in Mandalay. There were no casualties but Beijing issued a furious rebuke.
Li did not explicitly back the junta's approach to the civil war, according to the Xinhua report.
Instead, he told Min Aung Hlaing that China supported Myanmar in "advancing the political reconciliation and transformation".
Beijing is concerned about the possibility the junta could fall, analysts say, and is suspicious about Western influence among some of the pro-democracy armed groups battling the military.
Myanmar is a vital part of Beijing's trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative, with railways and pipelines to link China's landlocked southwest to the Indian Ocean.
Myanmar junta chief to visit China for first time since coup
Beijing (AFP) Nov 4, 2024 -
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.
China is a major ally and arms supplier of the junta and analysts say Beijing also maintains ties with Myanmar ethnic armed groups which hold territory along its border.
Some of those groups have seized territory from the junta in northern Shan state, disrupting traffic along a vital trade highway to China.
Min Aung Hlaing will travel to the southwestern city of Kunming on Wednesday to attend a two-day summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) -- a group including China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
A statement from the Myanmar junta on Monday said Min Aung Hlaing "will meet and discuss with government officials of the People's Republic of China on the friendship between the governments and people of the two countries, to develop and strengthen economic and multi-sectoral cooperation".
The trip comes as Myanmar's military struggles to quell armed resistance from various ethnic minority armed groups and "People's Defence Forces" which rose up to oppose its power grab.
China also confirmed that the leader of Myanmar would attend the summit.
"Against a background of a weakening global recovery and geopolitical turbulence, the need to strengthen unity and cooperation, and to focus on development and prosperity, are becoming more prominent," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday.
"The Chinese side looks forward... to holding in-depth communication with all sides (and) promoting regional interconnectivity, trade and investment," she said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
The summit will be chaired by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Mao added.
- Testy relations -
Relations between Beijing and Naypyidaw have been tested over the junta's failure to crack down on online scam compounds in Myanmar's borderlands targeting Chinese citizens.
The compounds were staffed by citizens of China and other countries who were often trafficked and forced to work swindling their compatriots in an industry analysts say is worth billions.
Analysts suggest Beijing later gave tacit approval to an offensive by an alliance of ethnic rebel groups across Shan state, which the alliance said was launched partly to root out the scam compounds.
Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia -- another key backer and defence supplier -- several times since the coup, including a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in 2022.
In August China's foreign minister said Beijing supports the junta's plan to hold fresh elections and return the conflict-torn country to a "democratic transition".
Opponents say the polls will be neither free nor fair, with many opposition parties banned and clashes occurring across much of the country.
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