Myanmar's Military Retakes Territory With Conscripts, Air Power and Chinese Backing

Myanmar's armed forces have recovered ground they lost during the resistance offensives of 2023 and 2024. Al Jazeera reports that rebel fighters have given up key towns as conscription, sustained air raids and Chinese support strengthen the military. The army introduced compulsory service in 2024 and has used it to rebuild manpower, while control of the air has allowed it to strike positions that ground forces could not reach.

China's role is the decisive external factor. Beijing has brokered ceasefires with armed groups along its border and has pressed for the reopening of trade gates. Earlier reporting described the military intensifying its campaign for the rare-earth mining areas and border trade routes in Kachin State. Those districts supply the feedstock for a large share of China's heavy rare-earth processing, and the elements are used in electric-vehicle motors, wind turbines and precision weapons. Documentation of the mining shows severe environmental damage in the areas feeding that trade.

The resistance groups say Chinese pressure, not battlefield defeat, forced them out of positions they held. The military presents its advances as the restoration of state authority. Independent verification is limited because access for journalists is restricted and both sides publish their own casualty and territorial claims.

What is not disputed is the direction of the mineral supply chain. Whoever holds Kachin's mining districts sets the terms on which the ore crosses into China, and China refines the overwhelming majority of the world's heavy rare earths.