Chinese authorities have placed the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) leader under house arrest to pressure his troops to withdraw from the northern Shan State capital Lashio, which the ethnic armed organization (EAO) seized from the Myanmar military regime in August.
Sources familiar with the matter said MNDAA commander Peng Daxun (aka Peng Daren) has been in China since his meeting with Chinese special envoy to Myanmar Deng Xijun in Yunnan Province’s Kunming in late October.
A member of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) told The Irrawaddy that the meeting was dominated by China’s demands that the MNDAA leave Lashio, which Peng Daxun reportedly refused. The FPNCC is an alliance of seven ethnic armed groups including the MNDAA.
He said the MNDAA leader was not allowed to return to Myanmar and has been under house arrest in a hotel in Kunming owned by the Peng family since then.
“I can confirm that he has been detained, but I can’t provide details. We’re facing challenges and pressures,” he said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The MNDAA, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)—both of which are also members of the Brotherhood Alliance—and allied anti-regime resistance forces seized Lashio in August after overrunning the headquarters of the junta’s Northeastern Command there.
The victory marked the first time a capital city and a regional command headquarters had been seized by anti-regime forces, dealing a serious blow to the junta.
However, the junta’s major ally China, which has influence over ethnic armed groups active near the Chinese border, including the MNDAA, didn’t accept the group’s seizure of Lashio.
Since the fall of Lashio, Beijing has not only pressured the MNDAA and the TNLA to withdraw from Lashio but also forced the United Wa State Army (UWSA) to cut off the supply of food, fuel, medicines and other resources to the two ethnic armies, driving a wedge between it and the other two groups.
Following the fall of Lashio, Deng met with UWSA leaders in China in late August to say the MNDAA’s seizure of Lashio “has caused great damage to the situation in northern Myanmar, the political situation in Myanmar and China-Myanmar relations.”
Referring to the MNDAA, he said, “We will never recognize Kokang’s illegal occupation of Lashio. We firmly oppose the Kokang Allied Army’s barbaric military behavior of attacking Lashio, which is controlled by the Myanmar Army. We demand that the Kokang Allied Army must withdraw as soon as possible. This is China’s firm position, and Kokang must abide by it,” said the special envoy, according to a leaked meeting document.
Another FPNCC member said the detention of the MNDAA leader was a sign that China has adopted a misguided approach to the region and its long-term future.
“The crisis in Myanmar is not just about the UWSA and MNDAA. China’s actions won’t succeed,” the member said, pointing out that the country’s ongoing war against the regime is not being waged solely by the two ethnic armed groups.
Currently, apart from Lashio, the MNDAA controls all of the main routes of China’s Belt and Road Initiative projects as well as border trade gates in northern Shan State.
“The problem won’t be solved just by the MNDAA leaving Lashio,” he said. He added that if China or the regime want to enable border trade and unrestricted access to BRI-related areas, all the EAOs along the main road would have to vacate the area.
“If [they did so], what would be the point of all this fighting? People will have suffered and young revolutionaries will have died for nothing,” he said.
When asked to confirm the reports of Peng Daxun’s arrest at a regular press conference on Tuesday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Peng had “previously applied to come to China for medical care, and is currently undergoing treatment and recuperation”, AFP reported.
Ministry spokesman Lin Jian gave no further details of Peng’s condition or whereabouts.
