Representatives of the Military Council recently met with Three Brotherhoods Alliance—Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army—in eastern Shan State to discuss the removal of the armed groups from the list of unlawful associations and the release of their detained soldiers.

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The Office of Commander-in-Chief reports that the meeting between the alliance and the regime’s National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee (NSPNC) was scheduled to take place at a hotel in Mongla at the National Democratic Alliance Army headquarters from 1 to 3 June.

Last week, a spokesperson for AA told the Burmese Voice of America (VOA) that the meeting would likely end on 2 June. “We need time to build mutual trust,” he told VOA, and will continue meeting in the future.

China’s special envoy Guo Bao from the Yunnan Foreign Ministry mediated the talks. All members of Three Brotherhoods Alliance have met separately several times with the new Chinese special envoy to Burma, Deng Xijun.

According to the Office of Commander-in-Chief, NSPNC chair, Lt-Gen Yar Pyae; second secretary, Lt-Gen Win Bo Shein; member, Khin Zaw Oo, who is a retired lieutenant general; Triangle Military Command Deputy Commander, Brig-Gen Tun Myat Shwe, and representatives of the Myanmar National Truth and Justice Party attended the meeting.

The agenda included support for a multi-party democratic political system, building a union based on democracy and federalism, restoring peace and cooperation in regional development.