Myanmar junta holds China-mediated talks with members of Brotherhood Alliance

Myanmar’s military junta says it has begun holding talks, mediated by China, with representatives of an ethnic alliance that has been mounting a joint offensive against the regime since late October. In an audio message disseminated to local media outlets on Monday, junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said that a meeting was held recently to seek a political resolution to the ongoing conflict in northern Shan State. The talks included officials from the junta's National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee and delegates representing the three members of the Brotherhood Alliance—the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the Arakan Army—according to Zaw Min Tun. Details regarding the meeting’s date, location, and other specifics were not disclosed. Myanmar Now has reached out to the members of the alliance, but was unable to get any comment from them at the time of reporting. The Brotherhood Alliance initiated its offensive, dubbed Operation 1027, at the end of October, capturing hundreds of military outposts and occupying key bilateral trade hubs along the China-Myanmar border. Intense clashes have taken place recently for control of the strategic border towns of Muse and Laukkai in Shan State. China’s minister for public security, Wang Xiaohong, meets junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on November 1 (AFP) The offensive has also inspired a renewed push by resistance groups elsewhere in the country to step up their own attacks, resulting in a string of defeats for a military long accustomed to having the upper hand. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson also commented on the recent meeting, saying they had seen “positive results” and would likely be followed by further talks later this month. Myanmar’s regime has framed Operation 1027 partly as an attack on friendly relations with its neighbour to the north, which has long been a key ally of successive military juntas in the country. Ties between China and the current regime have been strained over the junta’s failure to rein in illegal activities along the two countries’ shared border and restore order nearly three years after seizing power.

Myanmar junta holds China-mediated talks with members of Brotherhood Alliance

The meeting comes some six weeks after the start of an offensive that has seen the regime suffer a string of defeats

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