A coalition of China-linked ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.
The Alliance includes the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the United Wa State Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army. Several have historical links with China's Communist Party, having emerged in 1989 from the Burmese Communist Party.
In October 2023 the Alliance launched Operation 1027—named after its launch date of October 27th—a surprise attack on junta positions in Shan State in the east, and a few weeks later in Rakhine State in the west. Within two months they had handed the army a string of defeats greater than any since the years immediately following independence from Britain in 1948. The offensive was probably approved by China, which wanted to clear out scam centres trafficking Chinese citizens and targeting Chinese victims. After the Brotherhood accomplished these goals, China pushed the two sides to sign a truce.
In June 2024 the Brotherhood groups broke the truce. The MNDAA successfully assaulted the city of Lashio in Shan State and the junta's Eastern Operations Command—the first time such a large city or military base had been seized by rebels in Myanmar. Another group started down the road to Mandalay, stopping just outside the hill station above the city where the military's service academies sit.
Fearing that these offensives might cause the demoralised junta to collapse, China imposed the "five cuts"—severing the MNDAA's electricity, water, internet access, movement of people and the flow of goods. Deng Xijun, China's special envoy for Asian affairs, also detained Peng Deren, the MNDAA's leader, while he was visiting China. The Brotherhood relented. The MNDAA signed a ceasefire with the junta and in April 2025 Lashio was handed back to the military.
China can control the Alliance's supply lines and has threatened to cut off ethnic militias that train or equip pro-democracy groups without authorisation. In a leaked transcript of an August 2024 meeting with the United Wa State Army, Deng Xijun accused the MNDAA of being "two-faced"—pretending to obey China while "sowing discord"—and ordered the Wa to stop co-operating with it. The Wa subsequently announced they would no longer support the MNDAA. China had previously imposed similar "five cuts" on the junta's own border guard for failing to act against scam centres.
Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.