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20-12-2023, 04:10 PM
China has emerged as the dominant foreign power in terms of shaping possible outcomes in Myanmar’s spiralling political crisis as Beijing seeks to exert its influence over several armed groups who have staged the biggest challenge to the generals since they seized power in the February 2021 coup.
Beijing last week pushed 3-powerful ethnic armies – the Arakan Army (AA), the Mandarin-speaking Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) – to agree to a truce after fighters working with anti-coup coalitions across Myanmar pushed Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s military out of swathes of the north, overran hundreds of military outposts and seized control of border crossings with China under Operation 1027.
Ceasefire announcement followed talks in its southwestern city of Kunming between State Admin Council (SAC), as Myanmar’s coup leaders call themselves, and the 3-Brotherhood Alliance, the coalition of AA, MNDAA and TNLA, which is driving the 1027 offensive.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a statement on December 14, confirming that “a temporary ceasefire” had been reached. Beijing’s prominent involvement in the truce and its armed support for both ethnic armies and the SAC makes China by far the most influential foreign actor in the turmoil in Myanmar, a strategic location where big powers have long jostled for influence and whose generals are also deepening ties with Russia.
Beijing pleaded assistance, and a flurry of Chinese gov interactions with MNDAA and its allies,” said Jason Tower, Myanmar country director at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Patronage networks -- The ceasefire also came days after Beijing issued arrest warrants for 10 partners and cronies of Myanmar’s military, including members of the five powerful families who collectively ruled Kokang, bordering China’s Yunnan Province, most notable target was Bai Suocheng, key ally of Min Aung Hlaing, indicated the complex layers of connections & patronage between China, Myanmar’s ethnic minorities in the borderlands and the generals.
“China is really pi**ed off with regime for scam centres and related crime. Myanmar became synonymous with scams in China,” a source close to the Chinese government said.
Beijing last week pushed 3-powerful ethnic armies – the Arakan Army (AA), the Mandarin-speaking Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) – to agree to a truce after fighters working with anti-coup coalitions across Myanmar pushed Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s military out of swathes of the north, overran hundreds of military outposts and seized control of border crossings with China under Operation 1027.
Ceasefire announcement followed talks in its southwestern city of Kunming between State Admin Council (SAC), as Myanmar’s coup leaders call themselves, and the 3-Brotherhood Alliance, the coalition of AA, MNDAA and TNLA, which is driving the 1027 offensive.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a statement on December 14, confirming that “a temporary ceasefire” had been reached. Beijing’s prominent involvement in the truce and its armed support for both ethnic armies and the SAC makes China by far the most influential foreign actor in the turmoil in Myanmar, a strategic location where big powers have long jostled for influence and whose generals are also deepening ties with Russia.
Beijing pleaded assistance, and a flurry of Chinese gov interactions with MNDAA and its allies,” said Jason Tower, Myanmar country director at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Patronage networks -- The ceasefire also came days after Beijing issued arrest warrants for 10 partners and cronies of Myanmar’s military, including members of the five powerful families who collectively ruled Kokang, bordering China’s Yunnan Province, most notable target was Bai Suocheng, key ally of Min Aung Hlaing, indicated the complex layers of connections & patronage between China, Myanmar’s ethnic minorities in the borderlands and the generals.
“China is really pi**ed off with regime for scam centres and related crime. Myanmar became synonymous with scams in China,” a source close to the Chinese government said.
