The Myanmar military regime has accepted China’s nomination of Ma Jia as its new ambassador to Myanmar to succeed Chen Hai, who finished his tenure last month, junta media reported.
The 56-year-old is not a new face to Myanmar. She served as third secretary at the Chinese Embassy in Yangon from 1995 to 1998, during the rule of dictator Than Shwe.
Prior to her appointment as ambassador to Myanmar, Ma Jia served as minister counselor and minister at the Chinese Embassy in India.
Her appointment came days after Chinese special envoy to Myanmar Deng Xijun met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw to discuss the internal peace process and border stability.
In addition to Myanmar and India, Ma Jia has served as a diplomat in Pakistan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and the UK, according to junta media.
As the new ambassador, Ma Jia assumes the challenging tasks of brokering talks between the regime and the Brotherhood Alliance of the Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
The junta and the alliance were scheduled to meet on Aug. 1 after a China-mediated ceasefire between them collapsed in late June, but the meeting was canceled as clashes intensified and the MNDAA captured the Myanmar military’s North Eastern Command in northern Shan State’s Lashio two days later.
The TNLA has been fighting the regime on the border of northern Shan State and Mandalay Region, and the AA has seized half of western Myanmar’s Rakhine State, where China has huge interests, including securing direct access to the Indian Ocean.
China has been pushing Min Aung Hlaing to engage in talks with opposition forces. Myanmar’s border trade with China has been halted since the Brotherhood Alliance launched a large-scale offensive in late October.
Min Aung Hlaing has indirectly blamed China for the offensive, which has seen the regime lose dozens of towns in northern Shan State near the border.
He claimed that anti-regime groups used China-made drones to drop bombs on junta positions in northern Shan State, that “foreign experts” helped operate those drones, and that ordnance factories built in territory controlled by ethnic armed organizations on the China-Myanmar border were selling weapons to anti-regime groups.
Min Aung Hlaing even said he would try to find out where the funding and technology comes from.
Though the international community has shunned the Min Aung Hlaing regime for its terror campaigns against civilians in Myanmar, China has supplied arms and provided diplomatic support for it on the international stage.
