YANGON: China’s special envoy, Deng Xijun, met with Myanmar’s junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, to discuss “peace and stability” along their shared border, according to Myanmar state media.
This meeting comes shortly after ethnic rebels seized a regional military command in Myanmar’s northern Shan state.
Shan state has experienced ongoing clashes since late June, as ethnic rebel groups launched renewed offensives against the military along a crucial trade route to China.
During the meeting in Naypyidaw, Min Aung Hlaing and Deng Xijun discussed Myanmar’s internal peace processes and stability measures for the border region, with the junta chief outlining a five-point roadmap to ensure peace.
China is a key ally and arms supplier to Myanmar’s junta, but it also maintains connections with ethnic armed groups in Myanmar that control areas near the border.
Last week, an alliance of ethnic rebels captured the military’s northeastern command in Lashio, a town with about 150,000 residents. This capture, the first significant victory by opponents of the junta since the military coup in 2021, has led to rare public criticism of the generals from their supporters.
Min Aung Hlaing recently claimed that the rebel alliance was receiving weapons, including drones and short-range missiles, from unidentified “foreign” sources. The recent fighting has resulted in numerous civilian casualties, as reported by both the junta and local rescue groups.
Myanmar’s border areas are home to numerous ethnic armed groups that have long fought for autonomy and control over resources since the country’s independence from Britain in 1948.
Some of these groups have also supported newer “People’s Defense Forces,” which emerged to challenge the military after its 2021 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.
