Shan militia leader held by China for ‘medical treatment’

Pneg Deren was detained after he travelled to Yunnan for talks with Chinese officials, local media report. Despite pressure from Beijing, his armed group, the MNDAA, maintains control of Lashio, a city in Shan State. Meanwhile, junta planes bomb the area, killing at least 12, including eight children. A Baptist church was also struck.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Peng Deren, 59, commander of one of the three ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar’s regular army in Shan State for about a year, has been held by Chinese authorities for a month, Myanmar Now newspaper reported recently, citing sources from within the country and the Chinese province of Yunnan.

Responding to the claim, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that Deren had “previously applied to come to China for medical care, and is currently undergoing treatment and recuperation”.

Peng Deren (also known as Peng Daxun) is the head of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a major ethnic armed group opposed to Myanmar’s Armed Forces, which sparked a civil war with its coup in 2021 against the country’s civilian government.

Together with the Arakan Army (AA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the MNDAA launched an offensive in October last year to recapture the northern territories on the border with China.

According to Myanmar Now, Peng Deren was summoned to Yunnan for a meeting with a Chinese envoy on 26 October at which point he was detained, but he can still communicate with his commanders by phone.

A source told Radio Free Asia, later confirmed, that the Chinese government is holding Peng to force MNDAA forces to leave Lashio, a city recaptured by resistance forces in August. The latter is in Kokang, a region populated mostly by Han Chinese, seat of the Myanmar military’s Northeast Regional Command.

China militarily supports the ruling junta but has also had frequent contacts with the militias. In January, it tried to broker a ceasefire, which did not last, creating difficulties for Chinese investments and infrastructure projects that are part of the Belt and Road Initiatives.

Most of these projects are in active conflict zones and have experienced slowdowns.

Acting independently of each other, ethnic militias have recaptured several areas, which they now administer separately, often clashing with the local population.

Since the fall of Lashio, China has increased pressure on the MNDAA and its ally, the TNLA, operating in Shan, to end the fighting and start talks with the junta without involving the government-in-exile, the National Unity Government (NUG), which was set up by members from the parliament ousted by the military. China says the NUG operates under US influence.

In September the MNDAA noted that it was keeping its distance from the NUG, but was not prepared to give up Lashio, even though China recently cut off water and electricity supply in the Kokang region.

China in recent months also intensified its diplomatic contacts with Myanmar’s military, proposing the creation of a "joint security firm" with Myanmar troops to protect Chinese strategic interests.

According to recent reports by The Irrawaddy, this company would handle the import of weapons and special equipment, but it is unclear if and when the project will be implemented.

Meanwhile, air strikes by Myanmar warplanes in Shan and neighbouring Kachin State killed 12 civilians, including eight children.

In the village of Kone Law, a Kachin Baptist Convention church, where dozens of people had taken refuge, was stormed by army troops, according to the local armed force, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). At least seven children were killed and 11 other displaced people were wounded.

The KIA too has recaptured large swathes of territory. China closed all border crossings in late October, ending the export of rare earths from Kachin, now under the control of the local militia.

Only the city of Kanpiketi, where another checkpoint leading to China is located, remains in junta hands.

• myanmar
• china
• military
• junta
• coup
• civil war
• resistance
• national unity government