Gen Min Aung Hlaing has in the past year visited Germany, Austria, Italy and Brussels — as well as India and Japan. In May, he hosted Gen Mikhail Kostarakos, chairman of the European Union Military Committee, in Myanmar.

The EU has also invested significant civilian aid in Myanmar, including police training that came under scrutiny after a violent clampdown on student protesters in 2015. Brussels is also in talks with Myanmar for an investment protection agreement for EU companies, which figure prominently in the influx of foreign businesses, notably in consumer industries.

“The response of the international community has been very tepid; they have been hamstrung by their wish not to harm what they call the democratic transition in Myanmar,” said Richard Weir, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, the New York-based campaign group, speaking before the EU announcement. “But look at the fruit it has borne: ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.”

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