Myanmar Rebels to Hand Lashio Back to Junta

[geovalin]

Lashio

 

Rebel forces in Myanmar are preparing to hand the strategic city of Lashio back to the military, just eight months after seizing it in a major blow to the junta—marking a dramatic shift in the country’s ongoing civil war.

 

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) captured Lashio in August 2024, ousting the military from its northeastern command hub and disrupting key trade routes with China. Analysts called it the junta’s most severe loss since the 2021 coup plunged the nation into conflict.

 

Now, under quiet Chinese mediation, the MNDAA appears poised to surrender the city without a fight.

 

“At the joint invitation of both sides, China recently dispatched a ceasefire monitoring team to Lashio,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun confirmed this week, adding that Beijing would “witness the smooth and orderly handover.”

 

China has long walked a delicate line in Myanmar, supplying arms to the military regime while maintaining ties with ethnic armed groups like the MNDAA, whose territory lies just 100 kilometres from the Chinese border.

 

The rebels have remained tight-lipped, but reports from Lashio suggest the handover is already in motion. A resident said MNDAA members were seen meeting military officials inside a hotel, while a local ethnic group allied with the rebels reported an influx of military vehicles.

 

A junta source confirmed officers have been redeployed to the city in recent days.

 

The move comes after Beijing reportedly cut off water, power and internet to the MNDAA’s Kokang stronghold following Lashio’s fall—signalling Chinese displeasure with instability so close to its Belt and Road investment corridors.

 

The MNDAA, along with allied ethnic forces, had launched a major offensive in late 2023, capturing swathes of Shan State and tightening control over cross-border trade routes and lucrative gem mines.

 

While the upcoming handover may restore Lashio to junta hands, it underscores China’s growing influence in Myanmar’s volatile north—and highlights how regional powers are shaping the conflict’s future as much as the fighters on the ground.

 

-2025-04-23