China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denied reports that the leader of an ethnic rebel army was being held under house arrest in Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar’s Shan state.
Peng Daxun, the leader of the insurgent Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, traveled to Yunnan last month for medical treatment and was still receiving care, spokesperson Lin Jian said at the ministry’s regular news conference.
Lin did not provide details about Peng’s condition or his exact whereabouts.
Sources close to the MNDAA told Radio Free Asia on Monday that Peng was being prevented from returning to Myanmar after meeting with Deng Xijun, China’s special envoy for Asian Affairs.
A source close to the military junta regime told RFA that Peng was being held at a hotel in Yunnan that’s owned by his father.
The MNDAA captured Lashio, northern Shan state’s biggest city, on Aug. 3. Since then, Beijing has put pressure on the rebel army to withdraw from the city, an important commercial gateway near the Chinese border.
Over the last year, the rebel army has seized control of more than a half dozen other towns in the area that serve as significant border trading hubs.
Border gate backlog
Also in Shan state, Chinese authorities on Tuesday morning reopened the Hsin Phyu border gate in Muse, allowing more than 300 delivery vehicles stuck in China’s Kyegong town for more than a week to enter Myanmar. Muse is about 170 km (108 miles) north of Lashio.
“Trucks loaded with potatoes and a variety of goods have entered this morning unexpectedly and immediately, while the road was repaired near the gate,” a border trade merchant told RFA.
Muse’s two other border connections with Kyegong remain closed to vehicles, merchants said.
China’s restrictions on small-scale, informal trade with northern Myanmar over the last few weeks increased in the wake of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing’s early November visit to China, but it wasn’t immediately clear if the two were linked. The recent border closures have resulted in price hikes in the region.
The military junta has yet to release any information about the status of the border gates.
The conditions under which Hsin Phyu – also known as the White Elephant gate – was reopened were unknown, another border trader said.
“It is not clear whether only the trapped cars will be allowed into Myanmar, or if the gate will be opened normally,” he said. “However, cars from the Myanmar side are not allowed to enter China.”
‘Kyaukpyu has been surrounded’
On the other side of the country, armed conflict between ethnic Arakan Army insurgents and junta troops has intensified in Rakhine state’s Kyaukphyu township, a seaside city where Chinese-funded projects include a deep sea port complex, a special economic zone and energy pipelines that could eventually stretch across Myanmar to the Chinese border.
Additionally, a 620 km (1,000 mile) high-speed railway and road network known as the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor is planned to run from Kunming city in Yunnan province through Myanmar’s major economic hubs and on to the port.
The corridor would ultimately give China crucial access to the Indian Ocean at Kyaukphyu.
The military junta has been reinforcing troops and tightening security in some neighborhoods and nearby areas of Kyaukphyu township, residents said on Tuesday. Junta authorities also ordered the closure of all private banks on Nov. 15.
“They have set up the defensive walls with concrete structure,” one Kyaukphyu resident told RFA. “These junta forces are not from the bases in Kyaukphyu, but from other battalions.”
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The AA has blocked all land routes up to 10 kilometers (six miles) away from Kyaukphyu as fighting has taken place in nearby Taungup and Ann townships, residents said. Ann township is home to the junta’s Western Region Command headquarters.
An analyst on Rakhine military affairs who asked for anonymity for security reasons told RFA that the AA is expected to eventually advance toward Kyaukphyu town once it takes control of Toungup and Ann townships.
“Kyaukpyu has been surrounded for quite a long time,” he said.
The Arakan Army, or AA, has been fighting the junta for control of Rakhine state. The group is part of the Three Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armies that also includes the MNDAA and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army. The alliance launched an offensive against the junta in October 2023.
Attempts by RFA to contact Hla Thein, the junta’s spokesman and attorney general for Rakhine state, were unsuccessful on Tuesday.
Translated by Kalyar Lwin and Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed.