Min Aung Hlaing has again blamed China for his regime’s loss of more territory in the month since ethnic armed groups near the Chinese border resumed their Operation 1027 offensive.
Min Aung Hlaing chose Monday’s meeting of the junta cabinet to announce his plan to revive co-operatives, a failed system dating back to the dictatorship of Ne Win.
Mainly for political influence in Burma. There are long histories of Chinese support for these groups. For instance, United Wa State army, the largest private army in the world with over 30,000 soldiers, was founded by Chinese as Communist Party of Burma’s guerilla army when the original CPB’s old guards broke up. The Chinese sourced leadership from ethnic Wa people who live on the Chinese side of the border and sent them to Burma to continue a guerilla war. This “new” CPB broke apart also eventually, along ethnic lines, with most of the group being of Wa ethnicity, and others belong to ethnic Han Chinese who were living in Burma or migrated to Burma. To this day, United Wa State Army uses Mandarin as official language. They have their own quasi-independent state within Burma, where the Chinese currency is the official currency.