China, Burma Bust Up Over Border Unrest

 Please read the detailed story HERE

BANGKOK — The border dispute between two close allies, China and Burma, has now been compounded by concerns over the junta’s future relations with the United States.

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity between the two states, with Beijing even issuing some unusually forthright criticism of its Southeast Asian neighbor.

Unrest on their common border led to a mass exodus of more than 30,000 Chinese refugees in late August, and fears of a renewed civil war in the area have alarmed Beijing. Its officials are also now worried by the Burmese military regime’s interest in developing closer ties with the US, which has strong sanctions in place against the junta.

"Beijing has been taken aback by the Burmese junta’s cavalier approach to their normally strong relationship," said Win Min, a Burmese academic based at Chiang Mai University. "But it is likely to prove to be a hiccup rather than a major shift in relations."

Last weekend a government-controlled provincial television channel, based in Kunming—the capital of Yunnan province which borders northern Burma—broadcast a Chinese government announcement advising all Chinese citizens in eastern Burma to return home quickly.

This came on the heels of a formal complaint from China to Burma days earlier over the way Chinese citizens living in the border region had been treated during recent clashes between an ethnic militia and Burmese in August.

In statement issued last week, China's Foreign Ministry said the recent conflict with the Kokang, in a northeastern Burmese region bordering China, had "harmed the rights and interests of Chinese citizens living there." The Burmese government should make sure similar incidents do not happen again, the statement said.

Burma insists that peace has been restored to the area in question and most of the refugees who fled to China had returned. But there are still thousands seeking refuge across the border, not just from the Kokang areas, according to residents living in China along the border with Burma.

Right along the border, from the Kachin areas in the east to the Shan areas in the west, people have fled into China for fear of renewed fighting between other ethnic rebel groups, especially the Kachin and the Wa, two of Burma’s larger armed groups, according to Indian entrepreneurs who travel along this area doing business.

"Everyone fears that the 20-year-old cease-fire agreements have been torn up by the Burmese generals, and a return to fighting is imminent," said a Kachin student living in the Chinese border town of Ruili.

"At the moment, it does not look as though the Burmese army is about to attack any of the other ethnic rebel groups that have ceasefire agreements, though there is a lot of posturing going on," said Win Min. "There is no doubt that the regime means to have all the ethnic rebel armies disarm before next year’s elections and become part of the border guards under the control of the Burmese army."

Earlier this year the junta sought the assistance of the former intelligence chief and prime minister, General Khin Nyunt—who was deposed in Oct. 2004 and is now under house arrest in Rangoon—to help negotiate with these rebels groups, especially the Wa.

Khin Nyunt had masterminded these ceasefire agreements some 20 years ago, and was still trusted by many of the ethnic leaders. He accepted the junta’s request on condition that his men—some 300 military intelligence officers who were jailed in the aftermath of Khin Nyunt’s fall—be freed. The government refused to accept his condition, and turned to the Chinese—who have extremely close relations with the key ethnic groups along the border—the Kachin, Kokang and the Wa. The Chinese reluctance to help angered the Burmese junta’s leaders.

It is now increasingly evident that a significant rift exists between the two countries that could have crucial implications for other countries in the region. It is also likely to impact any approach that the international community may take to encourage the Burmese military regime to introduce real political change.

The implications of this growing divergence could also have significant affects on the border region, as most of the ethnic groups—especially the Kachin, Kokang and Wa—in this area have ceasefire agreements with the Burmese junta. They also have traditionally close ties with the Chinese authorities. Economically and culturally, the area is certainly closer to China than the Burmese regime.

Thousands of Chinese businessmen and workers have migrated into northern Shan state over the last decade seeking employment and economic opportunities. Many of these ethnic leaders go to Chinese hospital across the border for medical treatment and send their children to school in China.