China’s special envoy to Myanmar, Deng Xijun, has urged the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Arakan Army (AA) to halt military offensives in Kachin State’s Bhamo and Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu, sources close to the ethnic armed groups said.
Deng reportedly told both ethnic armies to refrain from fighting during meetings in late May, offering improved ties with China in return.
Kyaukphyu is home to a China-backed deep-sea port, special economic zone, and the starting point of 973-kilometer pipelines supplying gas and crude oil to Yunnan Province as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Bhamo, situated on the banks of the Irrawaddy River and just 65 kilometers from the Yunnan border, is a key cargo hub for the BRI.
Since the junta lost almost all of northern Shan State to the anti-regime Operation 1027 last year, China has been pressuring ethnic armed groups based along its border to cease military offensives while brokering ceasefire talks with the regime.
“It aims to force all the groups to halt fighting and engage in talks with the Myanmar military. That is what China has been doing,” said a military analyst.
“It will mediate [another round of] talks between the regime and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army [TNLA] in August. China is deeply concerned about the potential collapse of the Myanmar military and is trying to prevent its break-up by creating a stable environment with the Myanmar military at its core. However, their approach excludes the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), so it may not be viable.”
The KIA has held regular meetings with China despite continuing its offensive in Kachin State, on the border with China. KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu has yet to respond to The Irrawaddy’s inquiry regarding Deng’s call for a halt to fighting.
The KIA controls all Kachin border trade routes with China, as well as rare earth mines in towns near the Chinese border.
Its offensive to control Bhamo, the second-largest town in Kachin State after the state capital Myitkyina, has been ongoing for nearly six months.
The ethnic army now controls most urban neighborhoods and some battalion headquarters, but the 21st Military Operations Command (MOC) and Infantry Battalion 47 remain under junta control, according to Colonel Naw Bu.
The regime is defending the town with air power. On May 20, the KIA shot down two of three helicopters transporting reinforcements to the 21st MOC.
The AA has seized control of 14 of Rakhine’s 17 townships – plus Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State – with only Rakhine’s capital of Sittwe, Kyaukphyu and Manaung still in junta hands.
The AA said it killed a brigadier-general from the 11th Light Infantry Division and captured 15 others, including a lieutenant colonel, during clashes in Kyaukphyu last month.
Kyaukphyu is home to the regime’s Infantry Battalion 34, Light Infantry Battalions 542 and 523, the Danyawaddy Naval Headquarters, the Taung Maw Gyi Naval Substation, and the 32nd Police Battalion.
China has been facilitating negotiations between the regime and the Brotherhood Alliance of three ethnic armed groups – the AA, TNLA and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) – responsible for Operation 1027. After China arrested its leader and cut off border supplies, the MNDAA relinquished the northern Shan capital of Lashio – which it had captured last year – to the regime in April.
During China-brokered talks in late April, the regime demanded that the TNLA surrender Nawnghkio, Kyaukme, Hsipaw, and Momeik towns in Shan State and Mogoke town in Mandalay Region. The TNLA refused, but agreed to more talks in August. Meanwhile, the regime has intensified its air and ground attacks on TNLA-held towns, reclaiming control over some positions.
