Resistance fighters in Myanmar have captured an important border town, inflicting a heavy defeat on the military junta. Laukkai is important for trade with China – but also a center of crime.
In Myanmar, rebel groups have captured the town of Laukkai after a months-long siege. With the capture of the city, which is important for trade with China, the armed resistance in Myanmar has dealt a serious blow to the ruling junta. Almost 2,400 army soldiers, including six generals, surrendered to the units of the “Three Brothers Alliance” made up of three militias from ethnic groups, it said. A government spokesman confirmed the capture of the city.
Laukkai, just 16 kilometers from the border with China, is also of great symbolic value to the junta. In 2009, the then regional commander and current junta chief Min Aung Hlaing drove out a rebel militia from the city in the north of Shan State.
Stronghold for crime and human trafficking
Under army administration, the town of Laukkai, with a population of 23,000, had since become a hotspot for international cybercrime as well as casinos and online gambling, drug trafficking and prostitution for Chinese tourists. Thousands of people in Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries have been forced into cybercrime by human traffickers, according to a summer 2023 United Nations report.
The spokesman for the ruling military junta said the decision to abandon Laukkai was also made with the safety of the families of soldiers stationed there in mind. The government also took into account the relationship with China, which called for an end to the fighting. The People’s Republic has good relations with the military government and rebels and protested on Wednesday after artillery shells hit its territory, wounding five people.
China concerned about security – and Online crime
China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Myanmar on Thursday. At the meeting, which lasted several days, he had to discuss with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing the stability of the borders and how to combat increasing online and telephone fraud that affects Chinese people and is organized from Myanmar. This was announced by China’s Foreign Ministry.
It was only in November that more than 31,000 suspects were extradited to China by the Myanmar authorities. In total, more than 100,000 people are said to take part in online fraud every day.
Hardest defeat for military government
The military in Myanmar seized power in February 2021 and brutally suppressed protests. The coup government now faces armed ethnic groups, but also pro-democracy rebels. The capture of Laukkai is their greatest military defeat since the Alliance offensive began.
The offensive launched by the “Three Brothers Alliance” in northern Shan State at the end of October has now spread to large parts of Myanmar. According to reports, the resistance is conquering more and more cities and army positions. On Thursday, the junta chief admitted that the armed resistance groups’ offensive had reached urban areas, the independent Myanmar news portal Mizzima reported.
Many Internally displaced people
According to the United Nations, the number of internally displaced people in Myanmar rose to 681,000 in December – the main reason being the civil war. Aid organizations such as the Catholic Caritas in Myanmar say they are finding it increasingly difficult to finance their support for the many hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
International sanctions have left the junta largely cut off from the global financial system. Myanmar’s economy and banking system are therefore in a serious crisis.