As Ta’ang fighters seize more Myanmar army bases, Chinese officials call for cessation of conflict

While clashes intensified between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar junta forces in northern Shan State this week, Chinese authorities demanded a suspension of hostilities for the sake of security on the China-Myanmar border. The statement, issued on Thursday by the national security committee of Ruili City in China’s Yunnan Province, circulated widely on social media only two days after China’s army and air force conducted live-fire military drills near the border. In its statement, the Ruili committee urged the TNLA, an ethnic armed group active in northern Shan State, to cease its assaults on the military to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals and other civilians living on the China-Myanmar border and avoid damage to their property. It also warned that the TNLA will face whatever punitive measures Chinese authorities deem fit if it fails to comply with their requests. Ruili is located on China’s border with Myanmar, only a few miles from Muse, northern Shan State. The TNLA is an ethnic armed organisation with a predominantly Ta’ang or Palaung membership and is a member of the tripartite Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed groups, which launched a large-scale offensive against the Myanmar military, dubbed ‘Operation 1027’, in October 2023. After the TNLA captured seven towns and scores of military bases in northern Shan State during the offensive, the Chinese government brokered talks between the Brotherhood Alliance and Myanmar military that concluded in a ceasefire in January of this year. However, since the ceasefire collapsed in June, the TNLA and its allies have captured territory from the army in Mandalay Region’s Mogok Township as well as Nawnghkio, Kyaukme, and Mongmit townships in northern Shan State. TNLA gains ground in Nawnghkio Township The Chinese officials’ appeal for stability was issued as clashes intensified between the TNLA and Myanmar army in Nawnghkio Township, northern Shan State, around 140 miles southwest of Ruili. According to a source within the TNLA, the group’s fighters captured two artillery battalion bases from junta forces on Wednesday in Tawng Hkam village some 20 miles south of Nawnghkio Township’s urban centre. Having seized the army’s Artillery Battalion (AB) 406 base and the AB 206 base by 7:45pm that evening, the TNLA now holds two of the three bases where junta troops had still been operating in Tawng Hkam, the source told Myanmar Now. According to a TNLA statement, the group is still fighting for control of two more junta outposts: the AB 354 base and the army’s Artillery Operations Command (AOC) 902 headquarters, which oversees operations at all three battalion bases in and near Tawng Hkam,. During the battle, the junta deployed Y-12 transport aircraft to drop bombs near the AOC 902 headquarters three times, and fighter jets struck the neighbouring village of Taung Shey. Sources close to the front lines said the airstrikes might indicate that TNLA forces had already entered the grounds of the headquarters. Since mid-August, junta troops stationed some 20 miles to the west in Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region have been targeting the TNLA by firing on Tawng Hkam using heavy artillery. The shelling has frightened local civilians, prompting many to flee their homes for safety. ‘Interfering in Myanmar’s affairs’ Spokespersons for the TNLA confirmed to Myanmar Now on Friday that they had received notice of the Chinese officials’ requests. “The central committee is still reviewing this matter,” the TNLA spokespersons said, referring to the leading deliberative body of the Palaung State Liberation Front, the group’s political wing. The TNLA has provided no further comment regarding the Chinese officials’ statement at the time of reporting. Than Soe Naing, a political analyst and former member of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), called the Ruili officials’ statement an intervention by China in Myanmar’s internal affairs. “This is China interfering in Myanmar’s affairs and trying to protect Min Aung Hlaing. Revolutionary forces are not bound to follow this, and I doubt they will,” he said, referring to the TNLA and other groups fighting the military. Less than two weeks before the live-fire military exercises conducted near the China-Myanmar border this week, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar’s administrative capital Naypyitaw for the first time since the 2021 military coup. During the visit, a meeting between Wang Yi and junta chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing focused primarily on “stability of the border regions” between the two countries.

As Ta’ang fighters seize more Myanmar army bases, Chinese officials call for cessation of conflict

While China has reportedly maintained ties with both the Myanmar junta and opposing groups, city authorities in Ruili, China expressly called for the anti-junta fighters of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army to lay down their arms

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