Over 2,000 Chinese troops have arrived at the Burma border in its south western Yunnan province, as civil war escalates in northern Burma between government troops and Kachin resistance forces, witnesses said.
Bum Htoi, a former officer of the Chinese-backed Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and a border based military analyst said more Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops have been deployed on the long border with Burma in Kachin State and Shan State, since early October.
According to eyewitnesses, Chinese troops are mainly deploying at Jang Hkawng, La Ying, Manghai (former CPB headquarters) and Xiao Zhai.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) also confirmed Chinese combat troops are currently deploying near KIA strongholds close to the China border.
Over 300 Chinese troops are currently stationed at the newly constructed military post in the Chinese town of Manghai, opposite Mongkoe in Burma, according to residents of Mongkoe.
Over a hundred Chinese PLA troops have been deployed at Manghai since Burmese troops began a new offensive against the KIA on June 9, Bum Htoi added.
He said, “It is unusual that over 2,000 Chinese troops are deployed near the Burma border. It is aimed at blocking Kachin refugees from crossing into Chinese soil.”
Currently, Chinese border authorities are not only preventing Kachin refugees from entering China but also prohibiting the cross-border supply of food and medicines from China to over 20,000 Kachin internally displaced persons in KIA-controlled areas, according to IDP aid groups.
More and more Kachin people in war zones are fleeing to temporary camps in the KIA controlled areas and Burmese government-controlled areas in Kachin State and Shan State, aid groups in Laiza said.
