China’s special envoy to Myanmar Deng Xijun met junta foreign minister Than Swe on Tuesday in Naypyitaw amid renewed military tensions in northern Shan State and intensifying fighting in coastal areas of southern Rakhine State where Beijing has massive investments.
Junta media said the two discussed further enhancement of their long-term relationship known as “Pauk-Phaw,” as well as cooperation to promote peace and stability along the border, and increased cooperation at regional and international arenas, particularly the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and United Nations.
In January, China brokered a ceasefire between the military regime and the Brotherhood Alliance after nearly three months of coordinated attacks by the alliance’s three ethnic armies saw the regime lose large swathes of territory in northern Shan State, including on the border with China.
The alliance comprises the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
Since the January ceasefire, the TNLA has repeatedly accused the regime of violating it with airstrikes and shelling on territory it controls. Tensions have recently been running high between the regime and the TNLA in Lashio, the largest town in northern Shan State, where the Myanmar military’s Northeastern Command is based.
As Deng met Than Swe in Naypyitaw, the TNLA said one of its fighters was killed and four others injured by junta shelling that day in Nawnghkio Township in northern Shan State.
Fighting has been raging in Rakhine State since the Arakan Army launched an offensive in the western state in November of last year. China has massive investments in the state, which faces the Bay of Bengal. It has oil and gas pipelines that start on Rakhine’s coast and extend through Myanmar to Yunnan Province. China is also developing a special economic zone and deep-sea port in Rakhine’s Kyaukphyu Township as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
The Arakan Army has either seized or is attacking junta positions in townships adjacent to Kyaukphyu, though it has yet to launch an attack on the township.
China has warned both the regime and the Arakan Army that it expects them to protect its investments in Rakhine.
Chinese diplomats visited the Kyaukphyu project a week ago, while Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai presented six patrol boats to the junta’s Home Affairs Ministry earlier this month.
The patrol boats were said to be intended for fighting cross-border crime, but observers suggest they are intended to protect China’s investments in coastal Rakhine State.
Human Rights Watch reported in 2022 that the regime used three Japan-donated passenger vessels for military purposes, prompting objections from Tokyo. Rakhine media outlets have accused the regime of using civilian passenger vessels to transport soldiers and weapons to the state.
Deng, who is also a former ambassador to ASEAN, has met junta boss Min Aung Hlaing four times in Naypyitaw since he was appointed special envoy to Myanmar in December 2022 to discuss the same topic – border stability. He has also met leaders of ethnic armed groups in Kunming and urged them to engage in talks with the regime both before and after the launch of Operation 1027 on October 27 last year.
The ceasefire in northern Shan State in January came after Beijing exerted pressure on the Brotherhood Alliance to bring the war along its border to an end.
