The Chinese government said on Monday that peace talks had taken place and “positive results” had been achieved in the conflict between the Myanmar military and an alliance of ethnic minority groups in northern Myanmar.
“China is pleased that the parties to the conflict in northern Burma are holding peace talks and achieving positive results,” said Mao Ning, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, assuring that Beijing is “ready to continue to provide (its) support” and (its) support to this end”.
“We believe that easing the situation in northern Burma is in the interests of all parties in this country and is conducive to maintaining calm and stability along the China-Burma border,” she also said.
AFP was unable to reach a spokesman for the Burmese junta for comment.
There are more than a dozen ethnic minority armed groups in Burma, some of which have captured territory in regions bordering China and have been fighting the army since independence from Britain in 1948.
In late October, three insurgent groups launched a joint offensive in northern Shan State, capturing towns and key trading centers on the Chinese border.
More than 250 civilians, including children, have died since the offensive began in October, according to the United Nations, which also speaks of more than 500,000 displaced people across the country.
The junta is being rocked by coordinated offensives near its borders with China, India and Thailand, which analysts say pose the biggest threat to its rule since the coup that brought it to power in 2021.
According to Global New Light of Myanmar, the junta's foreign minister and the deputy secretary of the Chinese Communist Party's Yunnan Provincial Committee met in Kunming, southern China, last week and discussed “peace and stability along the border areas.”
China is a key ally and arms supplier to the Burmese junta and has consistently refused to call its 2021 takeover a coup.