The Leaderboard: Peng Jiasheng

The Leaderboard profiles the people behind the policies of the Asia-Pacific.Who is he?

Peng Jiasheng, also called Phone Kyar Shin, is the leader of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a Kokang insurgent group in northern Shan State, Myanmar. The Kokang are ethnically Han Chinese. Peng began serving as a commander in the Kokang People’s Liberation Army in 1968, which then merged with the Communist Party of Burma. Peng established the MNDAA in 1989 amid the breakup of the Communist Party of Burma, and signed a ceasefire agreement with the government that same year.

The central government allowed Peng to rule the Kokang region, officially the First Special Region, for two decades, during which he reportedly engaged in massive drug trafficking. But after he fell out of favor with the government, likely for refusing to merge the MNDAA into a government Border Guard Force, the military invaded Kokang in 2009 and Peng was forced to flee, allegedly to neighboring Wa State or to China.

Why is he in the news?

Peng Jiasheng’s MNDAA on February 9 launched a well-coordinated assault on Myanmar government forces stationed in Kokang, reportedly with the assistance of allied ethnic armed groups including the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army. President Thein Sein on February 17 declared a 90-day state of emergency in the region and gave the military executive and judicial powers to deal with the crisis. Dozens have died on both sides and tens of thousands of civilians have fled the fighting, many crossing the border into China.

What can we expect from him?

The 83-year-old Peng seems determined to retake as much ground as he can from the Myanmar military, while hoping that China might intervene to broker an end to the fighting. He has already appealed to fellow Chinese for support, though he has denied reports from the Myanmar military that the MNDAA is being supported by Chinese “mercenaries.” The fighting threatens to strain diplomatic ties between China and Myanmar. It is also threatening the future of the Myanmar government’s already sputtering attempts to reach a nationwide ceasefire with ethnic armed groups.

Thumbnail image of MNDAA forces in formation during 2007 from TZA’s flickr photostream, used under a creative commons license. 

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