Interview: Diplomat denies Chinese involvement in conflict in northern Myanmar

The ongoing Kokang conflict in northern Myanmar is an internal affair of the Southeast Asian country without any intervention by China, a Chinese embassy official said Tuesday, denying any Chinese involvement or support in it.

China is concerned with peace and stability of the border area between China and Myanmar, said the official, who declined to give his name, noting that a number of Myanmar refugees have already fled to China.

It is purely a humanitarian act that China has provided the refugees with some relief, the official said.

China attaches importance to ties with Myanmar, he added.

U Sein Win Aung, president of the Myanmar-China Friendship Association, said no evidence points to any involvement by the Chinese government in the Kokang conflict.

The conflict will not affect relations between Myanmar and China in the long run, he said, adding the two countries attach importance to relations with each other.

He noted that Myanmar and China have settled their border issues in a friendly manner and jointly advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence.

Myanmar-China relations have been upgraded to the level of comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the president noted.

Though incidents are unavoidable between two neighbors like Myanmar and China, the Myanmar-China relations will continue to develop in a steady manner if the two countries pay high attention to handling such incidents, he said.

Some media outlets produced inaccurate or untrue reports out of their own position or interests, he noted.

There were some individual acts that broke the law of either country or affected the peace process of Myanmar, however, these acts had nothing to do with China's policies, he said.

The president said he was confident in the smooth development of Myanmar-China ties, calling for efforts from both countries to safeguard the big picture of Myanmar-China friendship.

Peng Jiasheng, leader of a group of Myanmar rebels engaging in fighting with the government has denied that he was receiving help from Chinese citizens or mercenaries.

His organization has strictly forbidden Chinese citizens from entering Kokang to join the fighting, Peng told the Global Times in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

"Our principle is not to allow Chinese citizens to fight," Peng said. Endi