Sebastian Strangio
The Irrawaddy River near Bhamo, in Kachin State, Myanmar.Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Colegota
China’s special envoy to Myanmar has reportedly urged two major ethnic armed groups to halt their military offensives in Kachin and Rakhine states, where Beijing has initiated important infrastructure projects.
In a report published yesterday, The Irrawaddy reported that during meetings in late May, envoy Deng Xijun requested that the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Arakan Army (AA) put down their weapons, “offering improved ties with China in return.” The report, which cited sources close to the KIA and AA, added that China’s purpose was to stabilize the military junta and secure the conditions necessary for large-scale Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure projects to proceed.
In particular, the report mentioned the China-backed deep-sea port at Kyaukphyu in Rakhine State, the starting point of the 973-kilometer overland pipelines supplying gas and crude oil to China’s Yunnan province, and the city of Bhamo, a “key cargo hub for the BRI” on the Irrawaddy River around 65 kilometers from the Chinese border.
Both of these locations have been threatened by the steady advance of the AA and KIA. The AA is a member of the Three Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed groups, which launched a coordinated offensive in October 2023 (“Operation 1027”) that inflicted a series of serious defeats on the military junta in late 2023 and 2024. The AA now has primary control of 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships, as well as Paletwa township in neighboring Chin State, and has hemmed the Myanmar military into a few pockets in Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, and Manaung townships.
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