Sun Guoxiang, the Chinese envoy who turned up at the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAO) Summit at the Karen stronghold of Law Khee Lar on 2 June, deserves interest to both China and Burma hands on at least 2 counts.

The first is the familiar face of Mr Wang Yingfan, who had been present in most of the negotiations between the EAOs and the government, was conspicuously missing. The question that naturally arose was that: Has he been replaced?

Myanmar Times, 3 June issue, described him as “China’s Asian affairs expert”. But Netease International News reported that there is as yet “no reference to the latest publicly reported Sun Guoxiang’s office,” since he had departed in December from New York where he had been serving as Consul General for 3 years.

Born in Shanghai in 1953, he reportedly entered the foreign ministry’s Asian Affairs Department since 1979, and has long term work in South and Southeast Asia. He also served as ambassador to Sri Lanka, Maldives, Turkey, Vietnam, and other countries. He is married and have a son.

Another point of interest is what he said about the armed groups, that they should move from the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) by taking further steps, according to Myanmar Times. “There is a Chinese saying: Grasp opportunity when it appears, because it will not appear again,” he was quoted as saying.

Which echoed the poem the late Mao Zedong wrote in 1963, and was quoted by President Nixon when he made his historic visit to Beijing in 1972:

So many deeds cry out to be done

And always urgently

The world rolls on

Time presses

Ten thousand years are too long

Seize the day, seize the hour!

“This is the hour, this is the day for our two peoples,” he said as he toasted his host.

SHAN’s question therefore to our leaders at Law Khee Lar on this day, paraphrasing both Chairman Mao and President Nixon, is:

Is this the day,

Is this the hour yet?