Beijing announced on Tuesday ( Nov 19 ) that the leader of a Myanmar-majority armed group had arrived in China for “medical care” following news reports in its neighbor that he had been detained at China’s direction.
China is Myanmar’s decision junta’s main ally and source of weapons, but it is also thought to keep ties with ethnic minority armed groups that control the territory along their discussed border, where fighting frequently occurs.
One of the most significant rebel groups in Myanmar, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army ( MNDAA ), was informed this week by local media that China’s authorities had detained Peng Deren, the leader of the country’s most powerful rebel group.
Beijing’s foreign government asked Peng to validate the reports at a typical press conference on Tuesday, adding that he had “previously applied for health care there and is now receiving care and recuperation.”
Ministry official Lin Jian gave no further particulars of Peng’s state or locations.
Peng – who is also known as Peng Dashun – keeps a lower profile, usually declining media interviews.
In Myanmar, the MNDAA is one of the dozens of insurgent groups fighting the military’s interests for decades, including obtaining stone, timber, and opium.
In 2009, Myanmar’s present junta chief Min Aung Hlaing established himself as a local commander and led the MNDAA to leave Laukkai, a Shan state town.
The area borders China’s Yunnan state and is a crucial part of Beijing’s Belt and Road network program.
After more than 2, 000 coup army gave up in Laukkai in one of the government’s biggest loses in decades, the MNDAA recaptured the area in January of last year.
In August, they pushed yet more, capturing the town of Lashio – around 100km from its traditional land, the Kokang place, around Laukkai.
Since the military first came to power in 1962, Lashio was the largest metropolitan center to collapse under the control of any of Myanmar’s numerous racial minority armed groups, which have been battling the government for decades.