Apprehending hostilities breaking out between the Kokang Army and the Burmese Army, China’s People’s Liberation Army has moved more than 700 troops to the Sino-Burma border, according to a ceasefire source last evening.

On the opposite side of the border are ranged some 2,000 Burmese Army troops, who have taken up positions to seize any opportunity that might be offered by the warring factions in the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), as the Kokang Army prefers to be known.

On the one side of the faction ridden MNDAA is Peng Jiasheng, the Kokang supreme leader, who appears to be having an upper hand by commanding the loyalty of the bulk of the army. On the other side, are four dissident leaders, who have transferred their allegiance to the Burmese Army in order to oust him:

• Bai Souqian, Deputy Commander
• Mi Xiaoting, Chief Administrative Officer
• Li Guoshi, EC member
• Li Erh, EC member

A fifth leader Wei Xiaoyang was reportedly detained by Peng’s faction.

“Bai’s faction initially managed to rally a little over 100 troops to their camp,” said a local ceasefire officer. “But most of them have chosen to return to Peng’s fold.”

Peng survived a mutiny more than a decade ago. But this time, the Burmese Army appears to be definitely on the mutineers’ side.

On August 21, an arms repair workshop (not an arms factory, as reported earlier) in Yanglonggai, east of the Kokang capital Laogai, was raided and seized by the Burmese Army. On the following day, the police in Shan State North capital Lashio served summons on Peng, his younger brother Jiafu and his two sons to appear in court. The four however failed to show up. Tension between the two sides has flared up again since then.

Some analysts say the Burmese Army’s objective is to stir trouble between the Kokang factions and take advantage of it to seize the territory. “It wouldn’t be unlike the Mongkoe incident (which took place in 2000),” recalled a Chinese businessman of Shan descent.

On 24 October 2000, a faction of the Mongkoe Defense Army (MDA),
a breakaway group of the Kokang, had mutinied. A month later, the mutineers were executed, the MDA leader Mong Sala put in jail and the territory occupied by the Burmese Army.

Wa and other allies of Kokang, meanwhile, have called for non-interference in Kokang’s internal affairs. “We should only help them sort it out among themselves peacefully,” said a Wa officer who requested anonymity.