On the occasion of the PLA military exercises, the Kachin Independence Army, one of the Burmese rebels, threw an olive branch to the Chinese side. "If we can get the same treatment as China's Dehong Prefecture, then we are willing to treat the Kachin occupation as a provincial-level administrative region within China's borders," a spokesman said. ”
[A spokesman for the Kachin Independence Army said he was willing to join China]
The Dehong Prefecture mentioned here, that is, the Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, is located in the western part of Yunnan Province, bordering Myanmar on the north, west and south, and the Kachin people have always claimed to have the same roots as the Jingpo people, and it is reasonable to choose Dehong as the "benchmarking object".
It is worth mentioning that, on the surface, the Kachin army seems to be relatively close to the mainland, and the grave of its former chairman, Bronson, is placed just 50 meters from the mainland border, and its inscription is also inscribed: "When we are in trouble, China lends a hand, and the Kachin army will always remember China's help".
On this basis, the Kachin army took the initiative to ask the Chinese side to join this time, which seems to be full of sincerity, but in fact things are not so simple. First, let's get to know the Kachin Army.
The history of the Kachin Independence Army can be traced back more than 100 years. In 1897, after the British colonizers occupied Burma by force, they made Burma part of British India, and Kachin State, which was not fully controlled until 1929, has always been regarded by the British as a relatively independent administrative region, and retained a certain degree of autonomy for the local people.
[Most of the equipment used by the Kachin army comes from the United States]
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a large number of American Christian missionaries went deep into the Kachin settlements to spread their religion. During this period, the people of Kachin State were deeply influenced by American culture, and even the pinyin script that is now commonly used was developed with the help of American missionaries at the time, and about ninety percent of the current Kachin population is Christian.
During World War II, Burma was occupied by Japan, because of the complex terrain of Burma, if you want to increase the attack on invaders, you must have the cooperation of the locals, so the Allies began to seek more indigenous forces to form alliances. Among them, the Kachin, who have a similar faith in the West and are full of fighting spirit, were chosen to become the allies of the US military.
After that, the U.S. military equipped the Kachin people into an all-American-style armed jungle and mountain guerrilla force through the air and other means, which is known as the "101 Commando" in history. They participated in many operations against Japan with the US troops, and completed many dangerous tasks, such as conducting reconnaissance and raiding behind the enemy's back, and blowing up the enemy's ammunition depot, causing heavy losses to the Japanese 18th Division, which is known for its jungle operations.
By early 1945, the Kachin force, which had grown from 2,000 men to a force of more than 20,000 men. Some of these soldiers even participated in the US military's war against Japan in the Pacific region, and were highly praised by the US president and the US Department of Defense. After the victory in World War II, despite the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Burma, they still retained the number of Commando 101 and established the "Unit 101 Foundation". On this basis, the Kachin Army has continued to grow and develop.
[The United States has been secretly supporting the Kachin Independence Army]
Today, the Kachin Army is one of the largest ethnic militias in Myanmar. It is worth mentioning that the alliance of the three brothers who fought in northern Myanmar before, such as the Allied Army and the De'ang Army, all developed and grew with the support of the Kachin, and the Arakan Army was created and developed by the Kachin Army. As such, Kachin can be said to be at the heart of the chaos in northern Myanmar.
Speaking of which, everyone should also understand that the current Kachin Army is, in a sense, equivalent to a "time bomb" planted by the US military in Burma, and behind its continuous growth, it is inseparable from the full support of the United States, according to US insiders, from 2004 to 2010, the United States provided assistance to the Kachin Army, more than $50 million.
This has led to a clear hostility in the Kachin army's attitude towards China. Over the past few years, the Kachin Army has been engaged in separatist activities on the China-Myanmar border. They created organizations such as the "Wenbang National Alliance" and the "Jingpo Wenbang People's Government" in an attempt to establish a unified state of the so-called "Wenbang nation". Their planned "national" territory includes the Nujiang River, Baoshan, and Dehong regions of Yunnan on the mainland, as well as part of Tibet.
In addition, in 2007, China was required by the Kachin Independence Army to pay a huge "start-up tax" when it was building a hydropower dam on the Taiping River in Kachin State, and in 2011, China's cooperation with Myanmar to build the Myitsone Dam was blocked by the Kachin Army.
[Min Aung Hlaing is actively moving closer to China]
Under these circumstances, it is certainly impossible to say that the Kachin army sincerely wants to join the mainland, and its most direct purpose is to use this to drive a wedge between China and Burma.
China has been trying to mediate in Myanmar during previous civil unrest. With the recent successive defeats of the Burmese military junta, Min Aung Hlaing has begun to make overtures to China, not only stepping up the crackdown on telecom fraudsters and handing over his deputy defense minister, but also actively promoting the progress of China-Myanmar economic projects.
For the rebels, the Myanmar junta's friendly relations with China are clearly something they do not want. Therefore, they have chosen this public "surrender" method, trying to hint at the relationship between China and the rebels, and trying to sow discord between the Burmese military junta and China.
However, this kind of discord does not work for China. China has long adhered to the principle of "non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries" and will not accept the Kachin militants' pursuit of "ownership" of land with uncertain ownership. And the Kachin Army needs to be reminded that if anyone dares to endanger China's border security, the Chinese People's Liberation Army will not sit idly by.