Ta’ang National Liberation Army troops in a photograph released on Aug. 7,2024.
Chinese authorities warned an ethnic minority insurgent group on Myanmar’s northeastern border to stop fighting the Myanmar military or be “responsible for the consequences,” according to a spokesperson for the group.
China has extensive economic interests in neighboring Myanmar, including oil and gas pipelines and mines, and it has been increasingly concerned about the impact of a surge of fighting this year between various insurgent forces and the military
A spokesman for the insurgent group, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, told Radio Free Asia that the security committee in the Chinese border town of Ruili told the TNLA in a letter to stop fighting.
“Fighting must stop immediately in order to maintain stability and peace on the China-Myanmar border and protect the lives of Chinese citizens,” the Chinese security committee said in the letter, copies of which were posted online.
If the TNLA did not comply, China would “teach them a lesson,” and the group would be “responsible for the consequences,” the security committee said.
Radio Free Asia was not able to contact the security committee in Ruili and the Chinese Embassy in Yangon did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. However, during a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters that China is “highly concerned about … the conflict in northern Myanmar” and “will continue to … promote the easing and cooling of the situation” in the region.
A spokesperson for the TNLA, Lway Yay Oo, confirmed that the letter was from Chinese authorities but declined further comment except to say the group’s top leaders were meeting to discuss it.
China is known to maintain contacts with Myanmar rebel groups operating along its border, some of which have promised to protect Chinese business interests.
China-brokered two short-lived ceasefires between a three-party insurgent alliance, which includes the TNLA, and the junta this year but the truces collapsed and the insurgents stepped up pressure on the military, capturing numerous outposts, several major towns and a regional military headquarters. RFA was unable to independently confirm whether the warning was also sent to the other armies that make up the alliance — the Arakan Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.
China also maintains close ties with the junta that seized power in a 2021 coup, and is keen to limit the influence in Myanmar of Western countries and Myanmar’s other big neighbor, India.
ExercisesChina is hoping an election the junta has promised to hold next year can help restore peace and stability, analysts say, while at the same time it is pressing anti-junta forces to agree to peace.
Media reported this week that China had closed the border between Ruili and the Myanmar town of Muse, cutting off trade including fuel supplies apparently to pressure the TNLA to silence its guns.
In a show of force, China’s People’s Liberation Army began military exercises, including live-fire drills, in the Ruili area on Tuesday. China’s defense ministry said the drills would strengthen border security and stability.
In mid-August, China fired warning shots into Kachin state to the north apparently in a bid to warn off junta aircraft bombing an insurgent base on the border.
Myanmar political and military analyst Than Soe Naing said there was little China could do to stop the war apart from making threats and imposing border restrictions on the insurgent groups and their leaders.
“These restrictions can’t actually limit the battles that are being fought from Nawnghkio township in Shan state to Pyinoolwin township in Mandalay,” Than Soe Naing said, referring to a broad swathe of central-northeast Myanmar where rebel forces have been making advances.
source : Radio Free Asia