Al Jazeera reports that a tip-off from the Chinese government to Myanmar’s leaders about an illegal arms factory was the spark for the deadly conflict that led thousands of Burmese to flee across the border to Yunnan:
Up to 30,000 people fled across the border from Kokang into northern China during the fighting which followed the raid on the arms factory in the mainly ethnic Chinese region.
An estimated 37,000 refugees streamed across the border from Myanmar into China’s Yunnan province, but many of them have reportedly returned home in recent days.
Myanmar officials showed a number of diplomats and journalists around the site of the purported factory, which was raided by troops on August 8.
China has denied these reports in a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
