News & Events

Myanmar’s military government and an alliance of ethnic armed groups have agreed to an immediate ceasefire following peace talks brokered by China.

Myanmar’s junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, met with a special envoy from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), state media reported on Thursday, as Laos takes over chairing the bloc, which has encouraged peace efforts in the country.

China has emerged as the dominant foreign power in terms of shaping possible outcomes in Myanmar’s spiralling political crisis as Beijing seeks to exert its influence over several armed groups who have staged the biggest challenge to the generals since they seized power in the February 2021 coup.

Reports from Myanmar said there was continuing fighting Friday in the northeast of the country between the military government and an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups, even after China announced that the two sides had reached agreement on a cease-fire at meetings it had brokered.

Generals from Myanmar’s junta held peace talks in June near the border with China with representatives of three powerful ethnic armies. They sat across a wide table covered with blue cloth and decorated with elaborate bouquets. But the rebels were playing a double-game.

Myanmar’s military government has confirmed it’s been holding talks, brokered by China, with representatives of an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups against which it is engaged in fierce combat in the country’s northeast.

Recent developments in Myanmar stand in stark contrast to the despair that descended upon the country almost three years ago. The People’s Defense Forces has made sweeping gains against the military junta in recent months, prompting predictions that the regime could be on the verge of collapse.

As an ongoing offensive by armed ethnic organizations has Myanmar’s junta on its heels, Myanmar’s opposition wants Western governments to prepare for what could come next.