At the end of December 2022, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army made public its results. In addition to the small amount of weapons and ammunition captured, Master Kong's 2 barrels of instant noodles and 1 bag of garlic in the results of the battle are undoubtedly the most eye-catching. And such "war results" can be taken out, which can't help but make netizens wonder, what are these Myanmar troops fighting?
Chaotic Burmese army
In fact, to answer this question, it is necessary to sort out the relationship between the military in Myanmar, but obviously this is very complicated and troublesome.
Because there are too many armed groups in Myanmar, in addition to the Myanmar National Defense Force, which is now in the hands of the "legitimate government" of Myanmar, there are several ethnic armed forces in Myanmar that can be called by name. And the force we mentioned above that issued the results is the larger of these ethnic armed forces, that is, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.
The Chinese people may not know about this army, but they must have heard a lot about the previous "Ga Waist Incident in Northern Myanmar". The culprit behind the incident is related to a company called Henry Group in Myanmar, and the father of Wei Rong, the current chairman of Henry Group, is called Wei Chaoren.
Wei Chaoren is an old subordinate of "King Kokang" Peng Jiasheng, who is the supreme leader of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (died in February 2022, the current leader of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army is his son Peng Deren).
From these relations alone, the existence of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army is very confusing, but more confusion is yet to come, because there are two "Kokang armies". Before 2009, there was only one Kokang army, but in 2009, the "88 Incident" occurred, and the deputy commander of the Burmese National Democratic Alliance Army, Bai Suocheng, led troops to surrender to the "legitimate government" of Myanmar (including Wei Chaoren we mentioned above).
So since 2009, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army has been divided, and part of the army that surrendered to Myanmar's "legitimate government" has been reorganized by the current military government into the official 1006 Border Battalion. The other part is the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army under the leadership of Peng Jiasheng, which still calls itself the "Myanmar National Democratic Alliance".
So the result of the allied forces mentioned above is the war between the Burmese National Democratic Alliance led by Peng Ka Sing and the rebels who surrendered to the "legitimate military government" in Myanmar.
Of course, with the remaining strength of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, it will definitely not be able to confront the official Burmese military government, so the current Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army unites the armed forces of many local ethnic groups and belongs to the real "coalition army".
Confederate vs junta
However, even if the coalition army is formed, the military strength of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army is still very weak, with a total strength of about 2000~4000 people, which is the strength of a brigade, and the number declared by the Burma National Democratic Alliance Army is also the 211 Brigade. Therefore, after Peng Jiasheng returned with his troops, he did not achieve too good results.
The most important thing is that the Burmese military junta has absolute air supremacy, and from time to time it sends planes to drop bombs on the Kokang border. In this situation, the Burmese National Democratic Alliance can only shrink in the forest to fight guerrilla, which is why they rarely achieve great results.
The bad news for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance is that they are basically beaten, and from time to time they have to be bombed by planes by the Burmese military government, and can only hide in the woods. The good news is that the forest has it. The Kokang border has large areas of undeveloped terrain with complex terrain and dense forests.
Once the Burmese military junta surrounded it, the Burmese National Democratic Alliance troops hid in the woods and could not find anyone on the opposite side. Therefore, it is now difficult for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance to gain the initiative, but the opposite side cannot eliminate itself.
The Government of National Unity of Myanmar was established
The confrontation between the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Myanmar military junta took a turn in May 2021, and here is one organization, which is the Myanmar National Unity Government. Myanmar's National Unity Government was established in April 2021 at a time when it was established by a man named Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of General Aung San, the founding father of Myanmar, and has a high status in Myanmar. Shortly after entering politics, he was placed under house arrest by the current military junta in Myanmar in 1989 and continued into the 21st century.
In politics, for such figures who are very prestigious in the minds of the people, the dictatorship or military government can toss and turn while they are alive, but they must not be allowed to die. Because once they die, they become holy in the hearts of the people. After that, any force in the country can raise his banner to resist the current government.
In 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was 65 years old, was in a state where she would die in prison in a few years. The Burmese military junta, believing that Aung San Suu Kyi's popularity had waned after decades of detention, briefly released her to chair the National League for Democracy party.
As a result, the Burmese junta underestimated the influence of Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy party behind it, which won half of the seats in Myanmar's parliament in the November 2020 general election. That is to say, what the Myanmar army said after that became legally illegal, and the existence of the Burmese military junta no longer had a legal basis.
Then the Burmese junta staged a coup in February 2021 and detained Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. After a brief trial, Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to 33 years in prison and sent back to prison. In April 2021, some officials opposed to the current junta announced the formation of a government of national unity and honored Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was imprisoned, as State Counsellor, equivalent to "honorary supreme leader."
In May 2021, the Government of National Unity announced the formation of the People's Defence Army, which we mentioned above was soon joined by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance. Since then, various local ethnic armed forces in Myanmar have joined one after another, and according to some online accounts, the People's Defense Army has 100,000 troops by the end of 2022, and the military government controls about 500,000 troops.
Therefore, now the bold Burma National Democratic Alliance has taken advantage of the "momentum" of the People's Defense Army to start a counterattack on the areas controlled by the Burmese military government. The government of national unity has also begun to be recognized by some countries, such as the European Parliament in the European Union, which announced in October 2021 that it was recognized as the sole legitimate government of Myanmar.