Xi greets Myanmar's new president

President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message on Wednesday to U Win Myint after his election as Myanmar's new president.

China and Myanmar, neighboring countries that have long enjoyed a traditional friendship, have in recent years had frequent high-level contact, expanded pragmatic cooperation, active people-to-people exchanges and close multilateral coordination, Xi said in the message.

Such developments have brought tangible benefits to people in the two countries, as well as contributed to regional peace and prosperity, Xi said.

Xi said he values highly the development of China-Myanmar ties, and that he hopes to work with U Win Myint to consolidate the traditional friendship between the two countries, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and promote the China-Myanmar comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level.

U Win Myint on Wednesday became the country's 10th president since 1948.

The presidential run was hosted by the Union Parliament to fill the vacancy left by U Htin Kyaw, who announced his resignation last week, citing his health as the reason.

The election was contested by three vice-presidents - U Myint Swe, U Henry Van Thio and U Win Myint.

The parliament was expected to announce the date of the swearing-in to office of the elected president and two vice-presidents on Thursday when the parliament session continues.

U Win Myint resigned from speaker of the House of Representatives (Lower House) last week but was re-elected as vice-president and nominated as a candidate in the presidential election.

The current parliament and government began their five-year terms from February and April 2016 respectively under the leadership of the ruling NLD which won the absolute majority of the parliamentary seats in the Nov 8 general elections in 2015.

Xinhua contributed to this story.