Beijing has brokered a “formal ceasefire” between Myanmar’s military and a rebel guerrilla alliance in the south-east Asian country, as the civil war near China’s southern border tests its ability to mediate in foreign conflicts.
Beijing’s foreign ministry said representatives from the Myanmar military, which took power in a coup in February 2021, and from the rebel alliance agreed to “an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of military personnel” at talks in China’s south-western city of Kunming.
“They committed to not harming the safety of Chinese border residents and personnel involved in projects in Myanmar,” the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday. News agencies quoted the Myanmar military government as confirming it had agreed a “temporary ceasefire”.