FIGHITING ERUPTS ON MYANMAR-CHINESE TERRITORY

Fresh fighting in northeast Myanmar has erupted after days of clashes that killed at least one person on Chinese territory and sent dozens of wounded people to hospitals along the Chinese border.

• Thousands of people have fled to the border town of Nansan in China's Yunnan province this month after clashes in Kokang in Myanmar's Shan state, following the deployment of Myanmar government troops in the area.
• Thousands more people are trapped in Kokang, where there are now food and water shortages, the Global Times reported.
  
• A Chinese shopkeeper who fled the area said on Friday, some merchants who stayed beyond to protect their property had been killed. Security forces have been beefed up along the border region, a lush, forested area of low hills, to prevent the conflict from spilling into Yunnan.
• Covering an area of over 10,000sq km, the Kokang region bordering China's Yunnan province has a population of about 150,000 people. It is home to a large number of ethnic Chinese, many of whom are Chinese citizens who own businesses in Myanmar.
• A wave of "furious" fighting began in the border area at around 8.15am on Saturday morning and is continuing, a report on the website of the Chinese newspaper Global Times said.
• China has called on Myanmar to maintain stability in the border region and urged more measures to protect the security and legal rights of Chinese citizens there.
• Myanmar groups in exile said the fighting began after the Myanmar military took control of facilities run by the Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army in Laogai (MNDAA), the capital of Shan. The MNDAA had observed a ceasefire with the Myanmar government since 1989.

Source: The Agencies