BEIJING: Beijing stated on Tuesday (Nov 19) that the chief of an armed group from Myanmar’s ethnic minority had come to China for “medical remedy”, after experiences within the war-torn neighbor stated he had been arrested on China’s orders .
China is a serious ally and arms provider to Myanmar’s ruling junta, however can be believed to take care of ties with armed ethnic minority teams that maintain territory alongside the international locations’ shared border, the place preventing usually flares up.
Local media in Myanmar reported this week that Chinese authorities arrested Peng Deren, the pinnacle of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), one of many nation’s most distinguished insurgent teams.
Asked to substantiate the experiences at a daily information convention on Tuesday, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry stated Peng had “beforehand requested to return to China for medical remedy, and is at the moment present process remedy and restoration.”
Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian offered no additional particulars on Peng’s situation or whereabouts.
Peng, also referred to as Peng Dashun, retains a low profile, typically declining media interviews.
The MNDAA is one in all dozens of insurgent teams in Myanmar which have been preventing the army for many years for autonomy and management of profitable assets together with jade, timber and opium.
Myanmar’s present junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, made his title as a regional commander in 2009, pushing the MNDAA out of Laukkai, a metropolis in Shan state.
The area borders China’s Yunnan province and is an important factor of Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
In January final yr, the MNDAA retook Laukkai after greater than 2,000 junta troopers surrendered, in one of many largest army defeats in a long time.
In August they went even additional, capturing the town of Lashio, about 100 km from its homeland, the Kokang area, round Laukkai.
Lashio was the biggest city middle to fall beneath the management of Myanmar’s myriad ethnic minority armed teams – who’ve intermittently battled central authorities for many years – for the reason that army first took energy in 1962.
