China restricting trade, pressuring Ta’ang anti-junta group before planned ceasefire talks

Officials of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), a group under pressure from China to negotiate peace with the Myanmar military junta, said this week that the Chinese government is blocking shipments to its territory. Speaking to various media outlets in an online meeting on Wednesday, TNLA joint general secretary Colonel Tar Pan La said that China had lifted restrictions on goods flowing to territory under the control of its sometime ally, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). However, he added, they had continued to stop the delivery of goods destined for areas under TNLA control. "Particularly from our neighboring country, there hasn't been any reopening of the currently closed border gates,” Tar Pan La said. “There apparently hasn't been any opening to allow our people to conduct everyday travel and trade.” The reopening of border crossings controlled by the MNDAA—also commonly called the Kokang Army—came after the group met with officials of the Myanmar junta at ceasefire talks mediated by the Chinese government earlier this year, then fulfilled one of the junta’s demands by withdrawing its forces from Lashio, northern Shan State’s capital, in April. While pressuring the TNLA to conclude a similar ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar junta, China has continued to restrict trade to towns and territories held by the group, according to Col. Tar Pan La. The TNLA and its political wing, the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), took control of eleven towns in northern Shan State and neighbouring parts of Mandalay Region during “Operation 1027”, a broad-based anti-junta offensive carried out by the Brotherhood Alliance. The TNLA and MNDAA were two of the three ethnic armed groups making up the Brotherhood Alliance’s membership. The towns captured and held by the TNLA included the gemstone-producing town of Mogok, Mandalay Region as well as Namkham, Manton, Namtu, Kutkai, Hsipaw, Kyaukme, Nawnghkio, Momeik, Monglon, Mongngawt, and Namhsan in northern Shan State. The Chinese-brokered negotiations between the TNLA and military junta broke down in late April when the Ta’ang armed group rejected the military regime’s demand that it relinquish control of five of the towns its forces are now occupying. The bilateral border blockade imposed by the Myanmar military regime and Chinese government has cut off necessary supplies of fuel, medicine, and consumer goods to TNLA-controlled areas, a problem made worse by relentless junta airstrikes in the same territories. The junta has been imposing the blockade since early 2024, with China following suit in June of that year by closing its border gates. "We’re trying to open schools, but due to the blockades, we can’t get the necessary supplies,” Col. Tar Pan La said. “People need fuel to travel. We can’t get fuel. Hospitals and clinics need medicine to treat people. It’s very difficult to obtain these things. It’s been almost a year now. We’re looking for ways to cope with and overcome these tight constraints.” Among the border gates in northern Shan, the junta controlsThe junta has retained control of the Nantaw, Sin Phyu, and Mant Wein border trade gates in Muse, northern Shan State. China has also restricted the transit of goods through the Naungtaung border gate two miles south of the TNLA-controlled town of Namkham, northern Shan State on the west bank of the Shweli (Ruili) River. The MNDAA is in control of the towns of Chin Shwe Haw, Mongko, and Pang Hseng (Kyu Koke), which also border gates into China, while another anti-junta armed group, the Kachin Independence Army, controls the trade hub of Lwegel (Lweje or Loi Je) on the Kachin State-China border. Although it is a fellow member of the Brotherhood Alliance and sometime ally of the TNLA, the MNDAA is currently observing a truce with the military junta. The Brotherhood Alliance jointly controls the Kyinsankyawt Gate in the 105-Mile commercial zone near Muse, but only goods approved for transit by China are permitted to reach the area, according to a Namkham Township resident. “Even though the TNLA captured Namkham and sent its forces to take control of the Naungtaung gate, China won’t open it for them,” the resident said. “Now China has reopened the border gate for Manhero, where the Shan State Progress Party is based, but they’re keeping the Naungtaung Gate closed, so TNLA is raising objections.” At the unsuccessful Chinese-mediated ceasefire talks in April, TNLA officials reportedly presented demands that junta forces cease all aerial bombing, heavy artillery shelling, and drone strikes in TNLA-held territories as well as permit the free transit of goods to all territories. The talks came to a close without a ceasefire after the junta demanded that the TNLA withdraw its forces to the towns of Namhsan and Manton in the Palaung Self-Administered Zone, with the parties agreeing to reconvene in August. Under the terms of its present ceasefire with the junta, the MNDAA has withdrawn its own forces from Lashio, the northern Shan State capital. The junta has been carrying out continuous and indiscriminate airstrikes in areas controlled by the Brotherhood Alliance’s two other member groups: the TNLA and Arakan Army.

China restricting trade, pressuring Ta’ang anti-junta group before planned ceasefire talks

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) said the Chinese government is throttling the flow of goods through border crossings, slowing the delivery of medicine, fuel, and other necessities to areas under the armed group’s control

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