1: explain the civil war in Myanmar;
Recently, the war in northern Myanmar has intensified outside Dehong, Baoshan, Nujiang and Lincang in China Province. Some battlefields are only tens of kilometers away from China's border, and the peace and stability of neighboring countries will also affect the peace in China's border areas. Therefore, the war in northern Myanmar has also aroused widespread concern at home and abroad.
As of February 4th, 20 15, the war between Myanmar government forces and Kachin Independence Army and De 'ang People's Liberation Army has escalated in an all-round way, and the war has spread to Mandalay, the ancient capital of Myanmar and the second largest city in Myanmar. Almost half of Myanmar's government troops and army troops have been put into the battlefield in northern Myanmar, and its elite troops, including the 33rd Division and the 66th Division, have all been put into battle.
In the large-scale armed conflicts that just broke out with the De 'ang People's Liberation Army in Gu Mo, Mengmi, Nauchoy, Kyaukphyu, Mexico and the United States, the Burmese government forces participated in the war: the 88th Battalion of Mingbu Garrison, the 95th Battalion of Mandalay Garrison and the 223rd Battalion of Mexico and the United States Garrison.
So far, the exchange of fire between the two sides has continued.
Other armed conflicts are still going on in Myitkyina, Ba Maw, Pagan and other places in Kachin State, as well as in Shan States such as Bangsai, Mangang, Damongwen and Nanpaga.
At present, the fierce armed confrontation and exchange of fire between the Burmese government forces, the Kachin Independence Army and the De 'ang National Liberation Army in northern Myanmar are still continuing, and there is a trend of expansion and spread. The armed conflict shows no signs of slowing down or stopping.
China and Myanmar share a common border of more than 2,000 kilometers. The southern part of the China-Myanmar border is all in Yunnan and the northern part is in Tibet.
Since Myanmar's independence, the contradiction between the Myanmar government and ethnic minorities has never really been reconciled.
In fact, the so-called Burma-North War has a long history. If you don't have a certain understanding of Myanmar's national conditions, you can't figure out what the war in northern Myanmar is all about just watching the news. Tracing back to the source, we must return to the ethnic problems in Myanmar.
Some friends have seen reports about the war in northern Myanmar in the media, and have been asked about the war in northern Myanmar more than once in recent days. However, most of my friends may not know the ins and outs of ethnic contradictions in Myanmar, so I will sort out an article by Mr. Zhu Xianghui introducing ethnic contradictions in Myanmar as follows.
After reading this article, you may know something about the origin and causes of the war in northern Myanmar.
A 60-year feud between Burmese government forces and Kachin.
-Author: Zhu Xianghui
Due to geographical reasons and the unsynchronized social, economic and development of all ethnic groups, there are great differences between Burmese and ethnic minorities in politics, economy and culture, and there are ethnic contradictions and deep barriers to varying degrees.
The war between the Burmese government and the armed forces of various ethnic minorities lasted for more than half a century, and the number of armed forces of ethnic minorities (commonly known as civilian military forces in China) was also very small. The fierce confrontation between civilian military forces and the Myanmar government is unique not only in Southeast Asia, but also in the world.
The conflict between ethnic minorities in Myanmar and the Myanmar government has its profound political, cultural, economic and social background. To understand all this, it is necessary to trace back to the history of Myanmar before independence or even longer.
2. The reason for the temperature rise:
Simply put, we can talk about it from the following aspects.
First, the colonial period: planting a curse
Myanmar has been a multi-ethnic country since ancient times.
In this land, all ethnic groups have thrived together and formed a complex relationship with each other.
The people of Myanmar have long been in a dominant position. From 1 1 century to19th century, three feudal dynasties of Bagan, Dongyu and Gongbang were established.
Ethnic minorities such as Meng, Shan and Rakhine have also established their own political power or once ruled Myanmar.
Due to geographical reasons and the unsynchronized socio-economic development of all ethnic groups in Myanmar, there is a big gap between Myanmar and ethnic minorities in politics, culture and economy, which has evolved into ethnic contradictions to varying degrees, and the gap is getting bigger and bigger.
For a long time, ethnic minority areas have only been ruled by the central government in form, but when the central government is in crisis, ethnic minorities in remote areas will resist Myanmar's rule and actively seek to get rid of Myanmar's rule and strive for national independence.
/kloc-In the 20th century, Britain established colonial rule over Myanmar through three wars between Britain and Myanmar.
In order to maintain colonial rule, the British colonists formulated the policy of "divide and rule", implemented direct rule in areas where Burmese people lived in concentrated communities, and successively initiated a series of administrative and judicial system reforms.
1942 Japan invaded Myanmar, which replaced the British colonial rule in Myanmar and also laid the bane of ethnic contradictions.
At the beginning of World War II, General Aung San, known as the "father of the Union of Myanmar", chose to cooperate with the Japanese army and tried to seek Myanmar's independence with the help of external forces, while Kachin, Karen and India chose to be loyal to Britain.
In the subsequent war, 500,000 Indians were forced to leave Myanmar, and the conflict between the Karen and the Myanmar Independence Army led by Aung San also caused the death of 1800 Karen.
Despite Aung San's efforts to strengthen the reconciliation of ethnic relations, the distrust between Burmese and ethnic minorities is deep-rooted and difficult to change.
After the end of World War II, General Aung San came to North Myanmar to persuade the Shan, Qin and Karen nationalities to jointly establish the country.
1On September 24th, 947, after competing and balancing interests, all ethnic groups jointly formulated the Constitution of the Union of Myanmar.
The constitution stipulates that the upper classes of all ethnic groups are endowed with great rights, including retaining the hereditary privileges of all ethnic groups. It is also stipulated that Shan State and Kayah State can decide whether to remain in the Federation by voting after 10.
However, the constitution of 1947 failed to finally solve the Karen problem.
Second, the Wu Nu period: opening Pandora's box.
After Myanmar's independence, the Freedom Alliance headed by Wu Nu came to power.
The central government of Myanmar began to try to achieve national reunification in political, economic, military and cultural aspects, and took measures to limit, weaken and deprive Myanmar of the privileges promised to ethnic elites before independence.
The central authorities refused to honor the right given to Shan State and Kayah State by the 1947 Constitution to choose whether to secede from the federation through citizens' self-determination. At the same time, measures such as promoting Buddhism, promoting Burmese and wearing Burmese clothes were taken among all ethnic groups to unify Myanmar for all ethnic groups.
Then 196 1 The Parliament of the Union of Myanmar passed the third amendment to the Constitution, which aroused the nationalist sentiments of ethnic minorities.
1949 to 65438+ 10, the Karen people formally broke away from the central government of Myanmar in order to seek national independence, and began a protracted armed conflict between the Karen people and the Myanmar government.
The rapid spread of war has ignited the enthusiasm of other ethnic minorities for independence or greater autonomy. At one time, there were wars in Myanmar, and wars of all sizes broke out one after another, filled with smoke.
With the support of Karen Union, Karen national armed forces headed by Lei are growing day by day, demanding national independence and establishing Karen State.
In Shan State, because the upper class lost its traditional privileges, and the Burmese government forces entered Shan State on the grounds of pursuing the remnants of the Kuomintang, which triggered the dissatisfaction of the local people in Shan State and eventually formed an armed confrontation.
At the same time, ethnic minorities rose up in succession. Although their demands are different, some of them strive for greater autonomy, some of them independently establish their own national autonomous countries, and oppose the Myanmar government's interference in the internal affairs of ethnic minorities. Although their political demands are varied, they are all aimed at opposing the federal government.
During this period, ethnic contradictions in Myanmar have been thoroughly intensified, and armed confrontation has continued and continues to this day.
Third, Neven period: repression and resistance.
1on March 2, 962, under the increasingly serious situation of ethnic problems in Myanmar, the military group led by General Ne Win, commander-in-chief of Myanmar National Defence Force, launched a military coup, took over the state power, set up the Revolutionary Committee of the Union of Myanmar, and exercised the state administrative and legislative powers.
Immediately after the military coup, Wu Naiwen announced the suspension of Constitution 1947 and dissolved the federal parliament and local councils.
In terms of ethnic policy, Wu Naiwen imprisoned many leaders of Shan and Kaye States and senior leaders of other ethnic minorities, and intensified military strikes against ethnic armed forces in an attempt to reduce or eliminate ethnic autonomy.
The Wu Naiwen government has also adopted the strategy of "controlling foreigners with barbarians", requiring local self-defense forces to be loyal to the Myanmar government on the condition that drug trafficking is allowed, and assisting the Myanmar government in cracking down on other ethnic armed forces.
Neven's government is superstitious about military conquest. While the number of government troops is increasing, the armed forces of ethnic minorities are also snowballing.
According to incomplete statistics, by the end of 1980s, there were 29 ethnic minority rebels in Myanmar, including Karen, Shan, Kachin, Kai, Meng, Rakhine, Bo 'ou, Benglong, Lahu and Wa, with a total number of more than 40,000 people.
During the Wu Naiwen administration, one of the most powerful anti-government forces was the People's Army in communist party, Myanmar. In its heyday, the total strength of communist party People's Army in Myanmar once reached10.5 million, and most of the soldiers came from ethnic minorities, mainly Wa people.
The more repressive the government adopted, the sharper the contradiction between the central government of Myanmar and the local governments of ethnic minorities became.
During Ne Win's 20-odd years in power, ethnic armed conflict has been one of the most important issues in Myanmar, because successive years of wars between the central government of Myanmar and ethnic armed forces have seriously hindered or even regressed Myanmar's social and economic development.
Fourth, the period of the new army government: there is a country within the country.
After a long period of economic depression, Myanmar is seriously short of living materials and social contradictions have intensified.
From March 65438 to March 0988, large-scale anti-government demonstrations broke out in Myanmar. Under the pressure of the anti-government movement, Wu Naiwen resigned, but the * * * who came to power later still failed to control the domestic situation.
1988 September 18, senior officers headed by General Maung Saw, Chief of General Staff and Minister of National Defense, staged a military coup, seized power and exercised military control over Myanmar.
The new army government has made major adjustments and reforms to the minority policy, changing the past practice of relying mainly on military repression and political power, and instead adopting a series of tactics of combining hard and soft in politics, economy and society.
Since 1989, the new army government has held peace talks with four ethnic armed forces that have left the Communist Party of Myanmar and reached a ceasefire agreement.
For ethnic minority areas that still support the anti-government armed forces, the military government inherited the strategy of "gaining a foothold and clearing the field" during the Nai Win period, forcibly driving ethnic minority people to residential areas designated by the government, in other words, forcibly moving ethnic minority people into government-controlled areas to live, so as to cut off the contact between ethnic minority armed forces and local people.
The military government's minority policy has achieved remarkable results. By the end of last century, a total of 17 ethnic armed forces signed peace or ceasefire agreements with the government of the new army through a series of actions by the government of the new army. As a result, the ethnic minority armed control area that signed an agreement with the new army government became a "special administrative region" in form, and the confrontational relationship between the central government of Myanmar and ethnic minority armed forces for more than 50 years began to gradually ease.
Although the ceasefire agreement and the autonomy model of the SAR have brought Myanmar 20 years of relative peace, and Myanmar's economy has also recovered during this period, it has formed an embarrassing separatist situation of "a country within a country". In fact, Myanmar has not achieved real reunification, nor has it really solved the ethnic contradictions in Myanmar.
In order to completely solve the ethnic minority problems before the 20 10 general election and pave the way for the future democratically elected government to take power, in April 2008, the new army government began to negotiate with the Kachin Independence Army, the Shan State Army, the Wa State United Army and other ethnic minority armed forces, asking them to reorganize their troops into border guards and put government officers under dual leadership, but the gun barrel was the civilian armed forces in northern Myanmar (referred to as the Myanmar ethnic minority armed forces).
In August 2009, the new army government launched a military attack on the Kokang Special Zone, expelled the Peng Jiasheng regime, fostered Bai Suocheng who obeyed the central government, and continued to send more troops to the Wa Special Zone and Kachin Special Zone.
Under the pressure of the new army government, some civilian armed forces, such as Kachin New Democratic Army (Ding, formerly communist party 10 1 Military Region, Myanmar) and People's Liberation Front of ethnic minorities in Kayin State, gradually accepted the reorganization of the government, but the negotiations between the new army government and the UWSA, the Kachin Independence Army and the Eastern Union Army of Shan State were deadlocked.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) in its heyday: promoting the peace process.
2010165438+10 On 7 October, Myanmar held its first general election in 20 years, but the next day, a military conflict broke out between the Fifth Brigade of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and government troops in the Miaowadi area on the Thai-Myanmar border.
20 1 1 In the first half of the year, Shan State, Rakhine State, Karen State, Kaye State, Kachin State and other places with more armed forces basically began to be in a state of war, and war was imminent.
The armed forces such as the United Wa State Army and the Shandong Democratic Alliance Army did not confront the government forces on a large scale, but the two sides also cut off political relations and dialogue and have been confronting the government forces ever since.
20 1 1, 12 ethnic minority armed forces set up a joint national federal committee in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and began to unite against the central government.
20 1 1 In the second half of the year, the new government sent out the message of reconciliation with the people and the military. On August 20th11,Thein Sein issued a declaration on establishing peace with the ethnic minorities in Myanmar, inviting civil and military forces to negotiate a truce.
The United Wa State Army and the United Shan State Army held talks with the Myanmar government in JD.COM, eastern Shan State, and signed a preliminary peace agreement after the meeting.
By the end of 20 12, 10 ethnic armed forces, including the Qin National Front, the South Shan State Army and the Karen National Union, had reached a ceasefire agreement or peace agreement with the Myanmar government.
Paradoxically, however, on the one hand, the Myanmar government held peace talks or reached a ceasefire peace agreement with major civilian armed forces, on the other hand, the conflict with the Kachin Independence Army intensified. Since June 9, 20 1 1, there have been many large-scale armed conflicts between the Burmese government forces and the Kachin Independence Army, which has caused serious turmoil in the whole situation in northern Myanmar.