China asks citizens to leave Myanmar border district, citing security

China’s embassy in Myanmar on Thursday asked its citizens to leave a northern district along the countries’ shared border, citing heightened security risks as ethnic minority armed groups battle the junta. Fighting has raged across Myanmar’s northern Shan State since October, when the so-called “Brotherhood Alliance” of ethnic armed groups launched an offensive against the military. The alliance has seized several towns and border hubs vital for trade with China in what analysts say is the biggest military challenge to the junta since it seized power in 2021. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), one member of the Brotherhood Alliance, has vowed to recapture the town of Laukkai, located in a district bordering China that is run by a military-aligned militia and is notorious for gambling, prostitution, and online scams. “The conflicts in Laukkai District of Kokang, northern Myanmar continue, and safety risks have escalated for people stranded there,” the embassy said on WeChat. “The Chinese Embassy in Myanmar once again reminds Chinese citizens in Laukkai District to evacuate as soon as possible.” Media affiliated with the MNDAA said this week that Myanmar’s junta had carried out airstrikes in the self-administered Kokang region that surrounds Laukkai and shelled parts of the town. AFP has contacted an MNDAA spokesperson for comment. Earlier this month, Beijing said it had mediated talks between the military and the allied ethnic armed groups and reached an agreement for a “temporary ceasefire”. But clashes have continued in parts of Shan State, with another member of the alliance, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, claiming to have captured two more towns in recent days. China’s foreign ministry on Thursday described the situation in Kokang as “grim and complicated”. “China has always believed that maintaining momentum for a ceasefire and peace talks is in the interests of all relevant parties in Myanmar,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. Analysts say Beijing maintains ties with ethnic armed groups in northern Myanmar, some of whom share close ethnic and cultural links with China and use Chinese currency and phone networks in the territory they control. Beijing is also a major arms supplier and ally of the junta, but relations have been strained in recent months over the junta’s failure to crack down on online scam compounds in Myanmar that Beijing says target Chinese citizens. Protesters gathered for a rare demonstration in Yangon last month to accuse China of backing the ethnic minority alliance, in what analysts say was a move sanctioned by junta authorities.

China asks citizens to leave Myanmar border district, citing security

In urging the evacuation, Chinese officials pointed to airstrikes and escalating clashes in Laukkai District, which have continued despite claims that the belligerents agreed to a ‘temporary ceasefire’ this month

Subscribe for full access

Plans for satellite ground station reinforce Myanmar regime’s ties to Russia

Clashes for border checkpoints intensify in Myanmar’s southernmost region

The shadowy past—and present—of the Myanmar Times and Frontier

On the road to Namtu

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

Iceland appoints businessman with links to Myanmar military conglomerate as honorary consul

Junta airstrike on gold mining block in Kachin State kills dozens

Resistance captures base, severs junta supply line in southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region

Mideast war risks dramatically deepening Myanmar crisis: UN expert