Even though China recently built oil and gas pipelines from Myanmar’s coast into southern China and has access to the Kyaukpyu port on the Bay of Bengal, trade between the two nations dropped in 2015, and relations cooled during the five-year transition from a military junta, which China backed, to elections last year.

The two sides are seeking to repair the friendship, though Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has praised the old tradition of a neutral foreign policy, is likely to be vigilant that China is not too overbearing.

In the days before her visit, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi sought to ease tensions over the suspension of the Chinese-financed Myitsone Dam. After appointing a 20-member commission to review the suspension decision and look at other hydro projects, she can tell China that Myanmar no longer has a closed mind on the project, analysts said.

“She needs good relations with China, but were she to approve the dam, she would lose massive internal support among many groups,” said David I. Steinberg, distinguished professor emeritus at Georgetown University. The new panel was a smart way to deflect pressure on her from China as well as her domestic constituency, he said.

The commission could decide that the dam — which Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi resisted as opposition leader because of the environmental impact it would have on the nation’s main artery, the Irrawaddy River — should not be built. But it would most likely consider other projects that would be to China’s liking, Mr. Steinberg said.

For its part, Beijing has become more flexible on the dam, opening the way for the easing of tensions, analysts said.