FIGHTING BETWEEN armed ethnic Chinese groups and Burmese government forces has driven 10,000 refugees into neighbouring China, a clash that could raise tensions between Burma and Beijing, one of the military junta’s few allies.
Thousands of people have crossed the border this month from Kokang in Burma’s Shan state after clashes following the deployment of troops in the area, home to a large number of ethnic Chinese.
There are also unconfirmed reports of a Chinese soldier being accidentally shot by Burmese troops.
China’s Global Times newspaper quoted a source close to Kokang leader Pheung Kya-shin, whose Chinese name is Peng Jiasheng, saying: “The government military and Kokang armed forces are at war, leading to a number of civilian deaths; many hospital ambulances in Chinese territories are in place to transfer the victims.”
The military junta in Rangoon will be keen to avoid any tensions with Beijing, a major investor in Burma and one of the few diplomatic lifelines it has to the outside world.
The Burmese government has been largely isolated by the international community, which has sanctioned the junta for various human rights transgressions, including cancelling free elections 10 years ago and for keeping opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for the same period.
The northeastern Burmese region is a difficult one for Rangoon. Comprising a majority of ethnic Han Chinese, Kokang residents have lived there for centuries. The region still has close links to China, and the Chinese yuan currency still circulates.
The area also shares the same telephone area code as bordering Yunnan.
Chinese troops were helping escort the refugees to shelter in a number of stations in Nansan, including an unfinished housing complex, where they were being given noodles and water.
Zhang Wei, the owner of a motorcycle shop in Nansan county, told Chinese media that the heavy presence by armed police forces could be seen on the streets, and gunshots could be heard coming from the Myanmar side, about 4km from his house.
Tensions were ratcheted up in the area this month after leaders of the Kokang minority defied an order to allow its guerrillas to be incorporated into a border guard force under the command of the Burmese military.
The regime also wants the groups to form political parties to contest next year’s election, but most do not trust the military government and feel they have nothing to gain from entering the process.
China is famously reluctant to meddle in what it sees as other countries’ internal affairs, just as it is outraged when other countries criticise areas it sees as domestic issues, such as human rights.
“It’s the country’s internal affair, but it also involves a large number of ethnic Chinese,” said He Shengda, vice-president of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences. “China will not tolerate the Myanmar government chasing the refugees across the border.”