Is Myanmar Junta Turning to Russia’s Wagner as Relations With China Sour?

There's long been reports of Wagner group's presence in Myanmar since the coup, so this is not new. They are often there as "technical advisors" or "instructors" in some capacity since the Junta has been buying arms from Russia as an alternative to reliability issues with Chinese weapons. With the Junta's crony openly asking for Russian assistance in Burma's internal war on Russian state media, this may have alarmed the Chinese on the growing presence of Russia in Burmese scene. China sees Myanmar as its exclusive sphere of influence and despite its friendly relations with Russia does not want another rival here.

The article has an interesting piece on the recently deceased commander of the NDAA, another ethnic armed organization in Shan State. This is yet another nugget that Communist Party of Burma and its spawn of ethnic armies bear the mark of heavy Chinese hand in Burmese civil war: "Lin Mingxian, the commander of the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) in eastern Shan State, who passed away reportedly from lung cancer on August 7. Lin, a half-Shan, half-ethnic Chinese born in northern Myanmar in 1948 or 1949, joined the Red Guards in China as a teenager, and came across the border to Myanmar in 1968 with scores of other likeminded young Chinese to fight alongside the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). "

It is no coincidence that ethnic armies born of CPB all use Mandarin as official language, are led by ethnic Han chinese, and use the Chinese currency as official currency in the territories they hold.