Myanmar ambassador to China died on Sunday

A man walks past a paramilitary police officer keeping watch outside the Myanmar embassy in Beijing, China August 8, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

BEIJING, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s ambassador to China died suddenly on Sunday in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, according to an obituary in Myanmar state media and diplomatic sources in Beijing.

The obituary for Ambassador U Myo Thant Pe by Myanmar’s foreign ministry in a state newspaper on Monday did not specify his cause of death.

Diplomats in Beijing and a Chinese language Myanmar media report said the cause was likely to be a heart attack.

U Myo Thant Pe was last seen on Saturday meeting a local official in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan which borders Myanmar, according to a local news report.

The Myanmar embassy in China did not immediately respond to a query for comment.

U Myo Thant Pe was appointed ambassador to China in 2019 and stayed in his post after Myanmar’s military took power in a coup in February 2021.

He was the fourth ambassador to die in China in the past year.

German ambassador Jan Hecker, 54, died in September, less than two weeks into his Beijing posting. Ukraine ambassador Serhiy Kamyshev, 65, died in February during or shortly after a visit to a Beijing Winter Olympics venue. read more

Philippines ambassador Jose Santiago “Chito” Sta. Romana, 74, died in quarantine in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui in April.

Reporting by Yew Lun Tian and Reuters staff; Editing by Lincoln Feast

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