Both sides in the political upheaval in Myanmar have good relations with Beijing, allowing China to "stay on hold."

Beijing is closely monitoring the situation after the army of neighboring Myanmar launched a rebellion on the morning of 1/2, arresting a series of elected leaders, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

While many Western countries strongly condemned the Myanmar army for carrying out the coup, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Uong Van Ban said Beijing "had already recorded the developments in Myanmar" and "was learning more.

"China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors. We hope the parties will properly settle disputes according to the constitutional and legal framework to maintain political and social stability," he said.

According to a Chinese military source, the Myanmar military coup left Beijing awkward because "the core of the problem is the conflict between the political coalition led by Ms. Suu Kyi and the power of the Myanmar army"

"Currently China can only monitor the situation and not take action," he said.

On the economic front, China is the second largest foreign investor in Myanmar, after Singapore.

Naypyitaw is also the first stop for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on a trip to Asia in late 2020, when Beijing seeks to improve relations with countries in the region before the US has a new president.

Security may be a bigger concern for China after the coup, as it has more than 2,100 kilometers of border with Myanmar.

However, the Chinese military is not too afraid of the turbulent internal prospect in Myanmar escalating into a conflict that transcends Chinese territory and affects Chinese citizens.

Zhu Yongbiao, an international relations expert at Lanzhou University, said that the coup would not have much impact on the situation in northern Myanmar, unless the instability persisted.

"If the instability persists, the situation in the northern states could suffer, but the likelihood of that happening at this point is not too great," he said.

Zhu also agreed that China's interests in cooperating projects in Myanmar would not be affected in the long term.

Beijing has shown its ability to maintain good relations with both the elected government and Myanmar's military and it can choose not to intervene, at least for now, Zhu said.