Beijing dispatched a high-ranking envoy to Naypyitaw this week as the Arakan Army (AA) intensified its offensive operations in southern Rakhine State, a site of several high-value infrastructure projects backed by Chinese investment.
Deng Xijun, the Chinese foreign affairs ministry’s special envoy for Asian affairs, met with the junta’s foreign affairs minister Than Swe on Tuesday in Myanmar’s capital, where the military junta has maintained control since seizing power in 2021.
The AA, having already seized more than half of Rakhine State’s townships, has concentrated its efforts on capturing economically important areas in southern Rakhine State such as Kyaukphyu Township, the starting point of an oil and gas pipeline and site of a deep sea port project heavily backed by Chinese investors.
The AA (which . . .
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