Beijing ups pressure
China has again demanded that Myanmar’s military regime work out a practical and effective plan to guarantee stability and safety at the border. The demand, issued by China’s Embassy in Yangon on Wednesday, followed the junta’s loss of at least five towns and over 150 positions across northern Shan State to a resistance offensive.
Since Operation 1027 was launched in northern Shan on Oct. 27, at least one Chinese national has been killed, border trade with China through Muse and Chin Shwe Haw has been halted, and Beijing has been forced to provide shelter for thousands who have crossed the border to flee the fighting. China has also expressed concerns for the safety of its investments in Myanmar, including megaprojects in its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
To curry favor with China, the regime has issued arrest warrants for online scam suspects wanted by Beijing in the Wa and Kokang borderlands, while also handing over suspects it has arrested. However, the momentum of the offensive suggests the junta is struggling even to guarantee the safety of its own troops, never mind stability at the border.
Dramatic reversal
Just a few months ago, junta troops were raiding village after village in central Myanmar, killing civilians and looting their belongings. But all of a sudden they appear vulnerable, losing towns and bases, suffering heavy casualties, and being forced to go hungry as supply routes are cut.
Even Myanmar people have been surprised to see how badly junta soldiers, who were only recently brutalizing unarmed civilians, are now being humbled and demoralized.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun, however, is still doing his job. When the strategically important town of Kunlong was seized by the ethnic Brotherhood Alliance on Nov. 12, Zaw Min Tun said it was merely a temporary tactical withdrawal by junta troops.
So, what about the photos showing the Brotherhood’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army occupying the town?
They were “taken by stealth”, the junta spokesmen insisted.
And the junta troops fleeing their bases as they were attacked by ethnic alliance drones?
A defense strategy to merge bases, trumpeted Zaw Min Tun.
In Kunlong, the Brotherhood Alliance seized large piles of weapons as well as armored vehicles and tanks. Video footage of its fighters driving a tank in Kunlong town tells its own story.
China targeted in pro-junta rallies
Every time it’s hit by a crisis, the military regime tends to organize pro-junta rallies to deceive people. True to form, pro-junta rallies popped up this week in Naypyitaw, Yangon, Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin and Pathein.
The rallies were organized by members of the junta’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party, in other words, ex-military officials, nationalists, and pro-military “journalists”. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun claimed that large crowds showed up in more than 30 towns to support the Myanmar military. He was fooling no one.
One noteworthy feature of the rallies was protestors’ allegations of Chinese involvement in the fighting in northern Shan State, where the regime has lost control of several towns and hundreds of positions. A Nov. 17 protest organized by a pro-junta editor against “countries secretly backing terrorist organizations” was believed to be targeted at China.
Media lobbying for the junta have called for protests outside the Chinese Embassy in Yangon, claiming that ethnic armed groups on the Chinese border were given a green light from Beijing to attack junta forces there.
Army takes charge of Kokang as Laukkai battle looms
Politicians from military-backed USDP purged after Min Aung Hlaing rails against corruption in scam hub on Chinese border. Read more:
Martial law declared across Northern Shan
Kutkai, Kunlong, Namkham, Muse, Lashio, Hseni, Konkyan and Laukkai townships all face martial law although large areas have already fallen to the Brotherhood Alliance. Read more:
