Myanmar: Armed ethnic minority group seizes control over 'profitable' border crossing area to China

An armed ethnic minority in Myanmar has taken over a profitable border crossing to China from the country’s ruling junta, according to reports from local media and security sources on Sunday. Following the October military takedown by an armed coalition of three ethnic minority groups, fighting has erupted throughout Shan state in northern Myanmar, near the Chinese border. The groups have cut off the cash-strapped junta’s trade routes by seizing dozens of military positions and a town that is crucial to trade with China. The Kyin San Kyawt border gate was taken during an offensive by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), one of the three allied groups, according to a local media outlet connected to the group. “MNDAA also reported they seized one more border trade gate, which is called Kyin San Kyawt, in Mongko area, Muse district this morning,” the Kokang news reported on Sunday. It added that the alliance – including the Arakan Army and Ta’ang National Liberation Army – had taken other positions in the border trade zone after the assault began on Friday. MNDAA had raised its flag at the border trade zone at Kyin San Kyawt, a security source told Agence France-Presse. The gate was reopened in 2022 after the pandemic, and is a major trading point along the Myanmar-China border. Earlier in the week, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told state media that roughly 120 trucks, parked near the border crossing, had gone up in flames and blamed armed groups. The uptick in fighting has battered Myanmar’s already struggling economy, damaging vital cross-border commerce and denying the military much-needed taxes and foreign exchange. Local reports say goods that pass through the Kyin San Kyawt crossing include machinery, electrical appliances, agricultural tractors and consumer items. (with inputs from agencies)