The new Chinese Special Envoy to Myanmar Deng Xijun held a talk with seven Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs) from northern Myanmar, in Yunnan Province of China on December 24, 2022, according to the sources.
“Meeting between the new Chinese special envoy and leaders of the EROs from northern Myanmar is true. Our delegation also attended the meeting. This is an introductory meeting between the Chinese envoy and EROs leaders. I don’t know the detailed topics discussed at the meeting,” U Nyi Rang, in-charge of the Lashio Liaison Office of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) told the Shan News.
The meeting was attended by the delegates of the EROs—namely the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA)-Mongla, the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), the Arakan Army (AA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)-Kokang.
“Our delegation had a talk with the Chinese special envoy. The detailed information about the talk is still unknown,” Major Phone Han, Spokesperson of the SSPP who attended the meeting told the Shan News.
Myanmar affairs observers said the Chinese envoy is expected to ask the desires of the EROs to have more understanding about the military council’s 2023 election.
“China has a lot of investments in Myanmar. The special envoy met seven EROs from the northern Shan State to fully understand the situations in Myanmar. The military council plans to hold the election in 2023. The National Unity Government (NUG) and the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) said they would carry out counter attacks in 2023. China doesn’t like the Proportional Representation (PR) system being implemented by the military council for the 2023 election,” political observer U Than Soe Naing told the Shan News.
Chinese Special Envoy Deng Xijun served as the Special Envoy for the ASEAN from 2020 to November of last year before succeeding Chinese Special Envoy Sun Guoxiang.
Sent by Shan News