Fighting Resumes with Ethnic Militants in Northeast Myanmar

Kachin separatists and government troops are fighting again in northernmost Myanmar, close to the border with China's Yunnan province. The fighting is said to have begun June 9 when government forces opened fire on rebel positions in the village of Sang Gang, in southern Kachin state. The apparent army offensive could be a government warning to remaining militant groups to return to the negotiating table, and it also may be an attempt to undermine the Kachin separatists' fighting capability as well as their alliance with other ethnic groups. Whatever its cause or purpose, the battle has certainly gotten Beijing's attention.