Chinese envoy holds talks with Kachin armed group after fall of rare-earth mining town

A senior Chinese diplomat met with officials from the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) on Thursday following the group’s recent capture of Chipwe, a town in northern Kachin State noted for having some of the largest rare-earth mining operations outside of China. According to sources, Deng Xijun, the Chinese foreign ministry’s special envoy for Asian affairs, met KIO chair Gam Shawng and other officials in Yingjiang, a town in China’s Yunnan Province located near Laiza, the KIO’s headquarters in Myanmar. The meeting came just two weeks after the KIO’s armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), captured key outposts in northern Kachin State’s Chipwe Township previously controlled by a Border Guard Force allied with Myanmar’s military junta. Deng reportedly urged the KIO officials to cease their ongoing military offensive against the junta, but sources close to the KIO leadership indicated that this demand would not likely be met. On Thursday evening, hours after the meeting, there were confirmed reports of KIA attacks on junta outposts near Kan Paik Ti (Kampaiti), an important trading town in Kachin State’s Waingmaw Township located on the Chinese border. Details of the meeting remain scarce. Deng has made similar requests to the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, both of which have taken control of several significant towns in northern Shan State, also bordering China. To exert pressure on these groups, China has restricted their food, fuel, and medicine supplies since June. Despite this, the TNLA has continued its offensive and recently seized control of the key town of Hsipaw in Shan State, located along a crucial China-Myanmar trade route. The KIO/KIA has played a vital role in resisting the military since it seized power in a February 2021 coup. Besides training thousands of young resistance fighters from Myanmar’s cities, it has assigned commanders to oversee People’s Defence Force groups engaged in combat against the junta in Sagaing Region. The KIO also provides political support, hosting Myanmar’s publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) in Laiza. Duwa Lashi La, the NUG’s ethnic Kachin acting president, is based in the town. Deng plans to hold talks with other ethnic armed groups from Myanmar in Tengchong and Kunming, Yunnan Province, in the coming week, sources told Myanmar Now. Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will soon be making his first visit to China since seizing power. He is scheduled to attend a Greater Mekong Subregion summit organised by the Asia Development Bank in Kunming, Yunnan Province, from November 6 to 7. The summit will also be attended by Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Chinese envoy holds talks with Kachin armed group after fall of rare-earth mining town

The official reportedly urged senior leaders of the Kachin Independence Organisation to end their offensive against Myanmar’s military

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