Junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing meets with China's foreign minister Wang Yi yesterday in Nay Pyi Taw. (Myanmar Military Information Team | AFP)

Myanmar junta chief, China FM discuss ‘stability’ as clashes rage

By AFP

Myanmar’s embattled junta chief and China’s foreign minister on Wednesday discussed security along their shared border, where ethnic minority armed groups have captured territory from the Myanmar military in recent weeks, junta media said.

China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta, but analysts say it also maintains ties with ethnic groups fighting the military in Myanmar’s northern Shan State.

The meeting in the capital Nay Pyi Taw was the first between Mr Wang Yi and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, chief of the junta that seized power in 2021 when it deposed the government of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The two discussed “stability of the border regions,” according to a junta readout of the meeting.

Northern Shan has been the site of repeated clashes since late June after the Three Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed groups renewed an offensive against the military along a vital trade highway to China.

Shan borders China’s Yunnan province and is a vital piece of Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Min Aung Hlaing and Wang also “discussed and exchanged views openly regarding … free and fair multi-party general elections,” according to the junta.

Wang, for his part, said China opposes chaos or conflict in Myanmar and supports work towards restoring the democratic transition process as soon as possible, according to Xinhua state news agency.

The junta has pushed back a timetable for elections multiple times and last year banned the widely popular National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Clashes between the military and ethnic armed groups in Shan continued on Wednesday.

Ta’ang National Liberation Army fighters were battling junta troops in the towns of Hsipaw and Naungcho, its Major-General Tar Bhone Kyaw told Agence France-Presse.

AFP has contacted the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, another Brotherhood group fighting in northern Shan for comment.

Earlier this month MDNAA fighters captured the military’s North Eastern Command in the town of Lashio, home to about 150,000 people.

The capture of the regional command – the first by opponents of the junta since the military’s 2021 coup – sparked rare public criticism of the top generals by its supporters.

Min Aung Hlaing later said the Brotherhood was receiving weapons, including drones and short-range missiles, from “foreign” sources that he did not identify.

Dozens of civilians have been killed or wounded in the recent fighting, according to the junta and local rescue groups.

The junta and the ethnic armed groups have not released casualty figures.

Earlier Wednesday the junta said rumours on social media that top generals had detained Min Aung Hlaing in a new coup in Nay Pyi Taw were “propaganda” spread by “traitors.”

The last top Chinese official to visit the isolated junta was former foreign minister Mr Qin Gang, who held talks with Min Aung Hlaing in May last year.

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