Chinese monitors deployed to strategic Lashio as junta slowly retakes town

In a dramatic turn of events in Myanmar’s civil war, the strategic town of Lashio, captured last year by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), has now been handed over to the junta in recent days in a process directly orchestrated by China. A Chinese delegation, led by Special Envoy Deng Xijun, arrived in Lashio, the capital of northern Shan State, over the weekend to facilitate the handover and oversee the ongoing ceasefire process between the Myanmar military regime and the Kokang-led MNDAA, according to local sources. Residents told Myanmar Now on Monday that negotiations between the junta and the Kokang Army are still underway, with a hotel hosting the meetings heavily guarded by security forces since Friday. A convoy bearing Chinese flags and a sign reading “Ceasefire Monitoring Group” was also seen moving through Lashio over the weekend, further confirming China’s direct role in supervising the transition. “We heard that the meeting will continue today, but we still don’t know who will end up controlling the town,” a Lashio resident told Myanmar Now. A convoy bearing Chinese flags and a sign reading “Ceasefire Monitoring Group” was also seen moving through Lashio On Monday, Kokang flags were reportedly removed from the town center, signaling a potential shift in administrative control. Kokang police officers were still seen patrolling the streets on Sunday, and Kokang-appointed municipal workers continued cleaning operations across town.The handover comes weeks after a deadly earthquake in central Myanmar last month, prompting temporary ceasefires across several frontlines as armed groups and civilians dealt with the fallout. The MNDAA began withdrawing from urban Lashio on April 3 under mounting pressure from China. The pullout is expected to be completed by Monday, ahead of a planned re-establishment of junta administration in the city.The MNDAA and Myanmar’s junta finalised the deal on March 23 after multiple rounds of talks in China’s Yunnan Province, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The agreement shifted control of Lashio in a major turn for northern Myanmar’s conflict. Although Kokang troops have started vacating urban areas, they continue to control the outskirts of Lashio and nearby villages. Residents reported seeing MNDAA checkpoints roughly five miles north and three miles south of the town center—marking the current boundaries of Kokang-controlled territory in Lashio Township. “My ward is still under Kokang control,” a man living on the town’s outskirts told Myanmar Now. “We’re worried that if the military returns, we won’t be able to enter Lashio freely.”Following the arrival of a junta convoy carrying plainclothes military personnel over the weekend, explosions were reported on the town’s outskirts around 9:30 pm on Sunday. It remains unclear whether the blasts were caused by artillery fire or landmines. While junta-appointed administrators and civil servants have started arriving in Lashio since last week, residents said there were no visible signs on Monday that military rule had been fully reimposed. The MNDAA seized Lashio last August following two months of fighting, taking control after the fall of the junta’s Northeastern Regional Military Command headquarters. The Kokang administration soon reinstated public services, including at the city’s general hospital, under the banner of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone.Observers say that the MNDAA’s withdrawal represents both a military and political setback for all anti-junta groups. This is especially true for the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), a major ally, which had occupied a number of towns between Mandalay and Lashio. “The junta can give real troubles to our forces in northern Shan State once its troops are back in Lashio,” a senior official from the People’s Defense Forces, the armed wing of the National Unity Government, told Myanmar Now last week. “For example, Namtu and Hsipaw, the towns nearest to Lashio, which have been captured by the TNLA, are now under threat from the junta troops coming into Lashio.” In recent days, Kokang-run offices and the hospital have begun shutting down. As part of the withdrawal, MNDAA forces have reportedly stripped facilities of equipment. “Even the train engines weren’t spared—they were lifted out with cranes,” a Lashio resident told Myanmar Now. “Fuel tankers, water trucks, and medical equipment from the hospital were all taken by Kokang troops.” The junta’s recapture of Lashio also threatens the defensive positions of TNLA forces in Hsipaw and Nawnghkio where intense clashes with the junta have raged for months, involving hundreds of troops on both sides. Analysts say that return of Lashio to junta hands marks a sobering setback for the resistance, underscoring Beijing’s tightening grip on the conflict’s trajectory and casting uncertainty over the future of Myanmar’s northern front.

Chinese monitors deployed to strategic Lashio as junta slowly retakes town

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