TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - China has told Myanmar to help reduce tension along the Chinese-Myanmar border, and called on all conflicting parties to restrain themselves, said a senior Chinese official following a recent conflict which caused a wave of refugees to flee into Chinese territories.
Myanmar has accused Chinese missionaries of fighting alongside the ethnic-Chinese rebels against the Kokang administration in its' north, and has called on China to cooperate to prevent more 'terrorist attacks' from being launched from within China's borders.
Intense clashes broke out in February between Myanmar's security forces and the Myanmar's National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which is composed of members of the now-dissolved Burma's Communist Party - a guerrilla group backed by China which fought against the central Myanmar's government prior to the civil war of 1989.
It has been reported that thousands of Myanmarese citizens sought refuge in China's southwest, which created chaos for the local administration in the area.
China's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Liu Zhenmin, said to Myanmar's envoy for the country that China has consistently respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar, according to a statement released by China's Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Wednesday evening, March 4, 2015.
China hopes that all stakeholders could restrain themselves in order to abate the tension that is caused by the situation in northern Myanmar, and called on Myanmar to help defend the stability of the Chinese-Myanmar border, added Liu in the statement.
China's Ministry for Foreign Affairs said that the envoy from Myanmar is a former Ambassador for China, which came in the capacity of a Special Envoy of the state.
"Myanmar is appreciative of China's help to address the ongoing issue in Northern Myanmar, and will continue to communicate intensively with China on the matter," said the Envoy, as quoted by the statement.
MNDAA - which is headed by a ethnic Chinese commander by the name of Peng Jiasheng - had once agreed to a ceasefire that came to an end in 2009 when government forces retook Kokang, resulting in a conflict which had displaced tens of thousands of local citizens into Chinese territories.
Peng's re-emergence has been seen as the root cause of the clashes that has intensified in recent months.
According to an interview with a Chinese weekly newspaper that went to print last week, Peng denied that his forces or himself have received any kind of help from Chinese residents and/or missionaries, reported Reuters.
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