Myanmar Admits Losing Key City On Border with China

Myanmar’s military government has admitted that it withdrew its forces from a key city on the northeastern border with China after an alliance of ethnic armed groups it has been battling for months trounced its soldiers, as reported by Grant Peck for the Associated Press (AP).

The fall of Laukkaing late Thursday is the biggest in a series of defeats suffered by Myanmar’s military government since the ethnic alliance launched an offensive on October 27. I Photo: Shin Khant Maung Wikimedia Commons

The fall of Laukkaing late Thursday is the biggest in a series of defeats suffered by Myanmar’s military government since the ethnic alliance launched an offensive on October 27.

A statement posted by the alliance on social media late Friday declared that the entire Kokang region had become a “Military Council-free area,” referring to Myanmar’s ruling junta.

It said 2,389 military personnel — including six brigadier generals — and their family members had surrendered by Friday, and that all were evacuated to safety.

Ethnic armed organizations have battled for greater autonomy for decades, but Myanmar has been wracked by what amounts to civil war since the army seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking nationwide armed resistance by pro-democracy forces.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance that took Laukkaing is composed of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the Arakan Army.

The MNDAA is a military force of the Kokang minority, who are ethnic Chinese. Laukkaing is the capital of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone, which is geographically part of the northern Shan state in Myanmar.s

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