Wang Xiaohong

China security minister in Myanmar following border clashes

China’s public security minister has held talks with Myanmar’s junta on establishing peace along their shared border, state media said Tuesday, following clashes between ethnic armed groups and the military in Myanmar. Thousands of people have reportedly been displaced, with some crossing into China, after three armed groups fighting for autonomy launched coordinated attacks on the junta, which said it had lost control of several outposts. Wang Xiaohong, who is also a member of China’s cabinet, the State Council, met the junta’s home minister Lt-Gen Yar Pyae in the capital Naypyitaw, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported. The two “discussed peace and tranquillity in border areas of the two countries” and cooperation on law enforcement and security, it said, without giving details. Since Friday fighting has raged across a swathe of Myanmar’s northern Shan State—where a billion-dollar rail link is planned as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road global infrastructure project. The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) say they have seized several military posts and key roads linking Myanmar with China, its biggest trade partner. The three groups—which analysts say can call on at least 15,000 fighters…