By LAWI WENG
8/12/2009

Chinese officials have warned the junta’s northeastern military commander not to create instability in Shan State bordering with China, according to sources on the Sino-Burmese border.

Two Chinese officials from Yunnan Province met with northeastern commander Aung Than Htut in Loigai Township on August 10.

Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese analyst based on the border, said the Chinese officials told the commander they were worried about a migration of refugees from Shan State into China, if armed clashes between junta troops and ethnic armed groups break out.

About 10,000 people, including Kokang and Chinese migrants, reportedly entered China earlier this month after tension increased between government troops and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a Kokang ceasefire group.

The two Chinese officials expressed their views forcefully, according to the source.

Tension have increased following an attempted raid by 70 government troops on the home of the MNDAA chairman, in search of illegal drugs. About 300 Kokang troops blocked the government troops on their way to the residence, sources said.

Chinese officials reportedly told Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye of the Burmese army, to handle border area conflicts among the ethnic armed ceasefire groups peacefully during his visit to China in June, according to sources.

The government is trying to force ethnic armed groups, the Wa, Kokang and Monglar, in Shan State to transform their forces into a border guard force under the military government.

The three groups have refused the offer, increasing tensions. The junta has deployed more troops in the area as a result. Some analysts say that the government appears to be preparing an offensive against the armed ethnic groups. Other sources say they believe government troops will not mount any immediate offensives in Shan State because of China’s concern and the upcoming national election in 2010.

The three ethnic armed ceasefire groups have formed an alliance to support each other if there are clashes with government troops, said sources in Shan State.

Independent Ethnic chinese groups in Shan state, Myanmar.

OMG....those photos....are real..??

That is just recipe for disaster.

Eventually what do they wish to accomplish anyways?

I think those ethnic Chineses in the golden Triangle are the remnants of the KMT troops after Civil War. Those soldiers got left behind and form their own communities. They are armed to protect themselves.

They are just try to survive, them and their familes.

But they are not stuck? They can fly to China if they want to?

They ain't Chinese citizens, got no papers and no passports.
If they enter China it would be under refugee status.

I say tell those folks to just hold on to their fort. If Burmese troops attack them, China should send troop and have help them to become independent in their state.

Crazy.....you cant be serious.....
That's bad for them because it will make them suffer.
I think they can immigrate to China again, if they want to, or just stay there but they should disarm the military units.

There are two kinds of chinese in Shan State.
One is kokangese, they are the native there( they are refugee to kokang state after Ming dynasty broke down). Myanmar government has recognized their native identity but do not offer their formal ID.
The other is refugee/trader ,including both KMT and CCP side.

And things is solved now.

like many things in this world which superficially suggest ethnic tension this is less about ethnicity and more about economics . Many Kokang have carved themselves positions as allies to the junta and the richer ones travel frrely between Chin a, Myanmar and Singapore et al . Whether Kokang or not many Chinese have settled in the second capital Mandalay whih is the main trading hu in central Myanmar . As youku says the Kokang have been there since Ming fragmented and there have been trade and population movement across the border for millenia . I don't think this matter is difficult to resolve . It's not as problematic as the Karen issue on the Thai border or the Rohu=ingya problem on the border with Bangladesh.

Not everyone is as rich as lo hsin han and his family.

true but there are many "middle-class" Chinese in central Myanmar proper . In any society you're more likely to take up arms if you feel not included and marginalised : alot of this has to do with economics.

Most Chinese in Myanmar proper whether rich , middle class or poor essentially all just want to get on with there lives and assimilate . By the time they get to the 4th or 5th gneration they are essentialy just Burmese with some Chinese ancestry .

My point is that if the Myanmar government actually decided to improve the lives of people anywhere in Myanmar then there would not be the same ethnic tensions that there are now . As I've said the Karen problem is worse because the Karens with issues are Christian ( remember only a 1/3 of them are Christian ) and the Rohingya situation is appalling and that's because the junta will never accept them as Burmese but instead look on them as foreigners who they have nothing in common with .


There is no real problem with the Chinese in Myanmar .

Different people from different enthic do not only fight for religion/culture and so on. In fact most of time they are just fight for benefit.
Well, most chinese are not very religious and never fight for religion.But this does not mean they do not have any trouble with the other enthic. See 1998 in indonesia, chinese were killed because the local people think they were rich. In fact there are rich chinese and poor chinese in every SE asia countries. Apparently Chinese tend to be sucessful in every kind of things, but in fact I think just because of our huge population and a bit more hard-working. A lot of chinese living in rural area of upper myanmar are as poor as,maybe even poorer than common burmanese people. And they are hard to assimilate to myanmar society because they can not speak or write burmanese(a lot of them can not go to school, and of course their chinese is also bad.)

I think as a majorty (90% chinese) in that region,, they should create a new Chinese nation and later allow them to be annexed by PRC

i like that idea, and then issue all citizenship to them

Crazy....is not so easy.

What about Myanmar government? They will just accept it?

Those kinds of things will only make them suffer and bring more conflict, and there is a potential the conflict can go bigger/ larger and drawing both PRC and Myanmar governments into it.

The best thing is just take them in and let them settle in China/ Yunnan.

Can China make Shan State another Taiwan?

how old are you kids 16? 17?

annexation does not work especially in a multi polar world. Even if it did those people most likely do not want to be citizens of PRC.