Flare-up in northern Myanmar exposes junta's vulnerability and brings scam centres into view

BANGKOK - For much of the time since the Myanmar coup in 2021, China has treated the Myanmar military as the de facto authority in the country, leaning on the junta to restart work along the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor linking south-western China to the Myanmar coast, as well as crack down on transnational scam operations within Myanmar. But a rebel alliance's rapid takeover of key military outposts in the north-east over the past week - as well as the shutdown of a key China-Myanmar border trade route - has highlighted how fragile that premise was.