China views its relations with Myanmar from a strategic perspective and wants to deepen its collaboration with the country’s junta to crack down on trans-border crime, its public security minister said.
During his meeting with Lieutenant General Yar Pyae, the junta’s home affairs minister, in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong said China always considers China-Myanmar relations from a strategic perspective and is trying to improve them.
“We want to deepen holistic collaboration on rule of law and security while seriously eradicating trans-border crimes like online scams and the drug trade,” the minister said, according to China Xinhua News in Burmese.
He said previous joint crackdowns between China and Myanmar on online syndicates near the border achieved significant results.
Myanmar has come under pressure from its huge northern neighbor to crack down on online fraud centers in northern Shan State, which borders China. So far, almost 45,000 people working in the scam syndicates’ compounds, including major crime bosses, have been repatriated to China.
Wang added that China wanted to positively engage with Myanmar on security, stability and development of the two countries and the region, among other things.
The meeting between Yar Pyae and Wang comes amid a sharp increase in the establishment of scam centers by Chinese-led crime networks in Karen State along the Thai-Myanmar border in southern Myanmar. Their number has grown visibly since the crackdown on compounds on the Chinese frontier.
The junta home affairs minister is in Beijing from April 24-29 at Wang’s invitation, on a working visit to discuss law enforcement and security cooperation, junta media reported.
Wang met with junta boss Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on Oct. 31 last year, four days after three ethnic armed groups, known as the Brotherhood Alliance, launched a major offensive against the regime in northern Shan State near the border. They talked about border stability, fighting online scam operations near the border, and acceleration of China’s Belt and Road Initiative projects in Myanmar.
At the time, Wang also met Yar Pyae to discuss cooperation on border stability, rule of law and security.
The two also held an online meeting on Jan. 5 to discuss border stability and fighting cross-border crime including online fraud.
Yar Pyae’s most recent meeting with Wang coincides with fighting in Kachin State in northern Myanmar bordering China. It’s believed they discussed the issue.
Fighting has been raging for months in Kachin State between the regime and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
On April 2-3, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a two-day live-fire military exercise just across the border from Kachin State’s Laiza, home to the KIA’s headquarters, and Lwegel.
Lwegel is one of Myanmar’s five border towns with China. An estimated US$119 million in trade passed through the town in the 2023-24 financial year. It fell to the KIA in early April.
The fighting in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State was also believed to be on the agenda when Yar Pyae met Wang. The regime is losing ground in Rakhine, and the Rakhine ethnic armed group the Arakan Army is threatening Kyaukphyu, the site of a China-backed special economic zone and a deep seaport that is key to the 1,700-km China-Myanmar Economic Corridor connecting Kunming in Yunnan Province to the Indian Ocean.
Meanwhile, junta national security advisor and former Navy chief Moe Aung is in St. Petersburg, Russia to attend the 12th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues and related meetings, which end Friday.
Both China and Russia are key allies and economic partners of the regime, supplying it with weapons and diplomatic support.
