A letter obtained exclusively by Myanmar Now reveals that the Red Cross Society of China gave advance notice of its plans to deliver aid in Myanmar, but had not received junta officials’ clearance before soldiers attacked their relief convoy in northern Shan State.
The document, dated April 1, was a letter from Thwin Htet Lin, the junta’s consul general serving in Kunming in China’s Yunnan Province. It was addressed to a junta deputy minister of foreign affairs in Naypyitaw, with copies sent to disaster management teams in Naypyitaw and Mandalay as well as to the Myanmar embassy in Beijing.
Junta spokesperson Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun previously claimed that the April 1 incident—in which Myanmar junta troops fired on a Chinese Red Cross aid convoy when it allegedly failed to stop at a checkpoint—involved relief workers who were travelling in Myanmar without prior approval.
According to Thwin Htet Lin’s letter, Chinese Red Cross representatives liaised with officials of the Myanmar Red Cross before entering Myanmar on March 29 via the border town of Muse, northern Shan State. However, the letter indicates that the Chinese Red Cross had not communicated directly with junta officials before the aid team’s entry into the country.
The Myanmar Red Cross, while officially structurally independent of the Myanmar government, coordinates its operations closely with junta-controlled administrative departments, including in the ongoing emergency response to last Friday’s earthquake.
Consequently, they attempted to contact the Myanmar consulate general in Kunming through Cai Wennan, the director of an emergency relief team based in Yunnan Province operating under the Red Cross Society of China.
In his letter to Naypyitaw, Thwin Htet Lin also explained that while the Chinese Red Cross relief team was in Lashio, northern Shan State, a city occupied by the ethnic armed group Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army since August of last year, they lost contact with their Myanmar Red Cross counterparts.
According to the consul general’s letter, Cai Wennan informed Myanmar consular officials about the convoy’s status. He also disclosed details about the aid supplies the team was carrying, as well as personal information about the individuals in the convoy, including the names of the truck drivers, and the vehicles’ licence plate numbers.
Cai Wennan also requested that Myanmar officials assist in ensuring the safe delivery of the aid supplies to the Myanmar Red Cross in Mandalay.
The timing of the letter indicates that, hours before the soldiers opened fire on the relief convoy, Myanmar’s consulate general in Kunming reported to senior officials in Naypyitaw that Chinese Red Cross workers had reached Lashio without prior approval from the junta and sought instructions about how to respond to the request from Cai Wennan.
It remains unclear how or why the Chinese Red Cross team proceeded from Lashio towards Mandalay, traversing territory over which the Myanmar military has been fighting for months against ethnic armed organisations like the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
However, around 9pm on Tuesday the convoy—prominently displaying signage indicating it was part of a Red Cross aid mission for earthquake victims—was reportedly attacked by junta troops in northern Shan State’s Nawnghkio Township, some 40 miles northeast of Mandalay.
Under fire, the convoy was reportedly forced to retreat into a nearby area controlled by the TNLA.
The aggression towards the relief team appears to have been rooted in the Myanmar military regime’s miscommunications and delays in giving official clearance, possibly compounded by damage to ministerial offices and civil service officials’ residences in the junta’s administrative capital, Naypyitaw.
Myanmar Now contacted officials of the Chinese foreign ministry with inquiries regarding these events but has not received any response.
Answering questions from other media about the incident at a press briefing, the Chinese foreign ministry said only that the Chinese Red Cross relief workers were not in danger and reaffirmed China’s commitment to assisting relief efforts following the disaster.
“The relief supplies provided by the Red Cross Society of China have already arrived in Myanmar and are being transported to disaster-stricken areas in Mandalay. The rescue team and relief supplies are safe at present,” said Guo Jiakun, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson.
“We strongly urge all parties in Myanmar to ensure the safety and security of rescuers and supplies from China and other countries, and keep logistics corridors fully accessible,” he added. “China stands ready to do everything we can to provide relief and support to affected regions in light of the need of Myanmar.”
Apparently prompted by Chinese government pressure after the shooting incident, the Myanmar junta announced a temporary ceasefire with armed opposition groups on Tuesday night, effective until April 22nd, to assist recovery from the earthquake.
The decision represents a stark reversal of statements made earlier in the week by the junta’s leader Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Only days before, in a flat rejection of proposals for a truce from ethnic armed organisations (EAOs), the junta chief explicitly dismissed any possibility of a ceasefire to allow for more effective earthquake relief, pledging instead to persist with military operations.Notwithstanding the EAOs’ offers and a brief suspension of hostilities after the earthquake, Min Aung Hlaing alleged that the anti-junta groups were exploiting the pause to regroup and train for future attacks.
“While some ethnic armed groups may not be actively engaged in battles at present, they are gathering and training in preparation for attacks,” he declared at a fundraising event in Naypyitaw on Tuesday. “As this constitutes a form of aggression, the military will continue necessary defensive operations.”
