THE head of one of Myanmar’s influential ethnic armies has accused global leaders of ignoring a surge in deadly junta airstrikes on civilians and said that only China is intervening in the conflict.

In a rare interview on Saturday (February 7) at his mountaintop base, General Yawd Serk, chair of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), said the world had failed to stop the turmoil as the military steps up bombing campaigns across the country. His group controls strategic territory between China and Thailand.

Speaking to Reuters after a military parade for Shan National Day in Loi Tai Leng, an isolated town perched between forest-clad hills on the Thai border, he urged Myanmar’s array of armed factions to unite and said political dialogue with the military was still needed to end the war.

“The civilians are suffering and I want the international community not to ignore it,” Yawd Serk said, citing airstrikes that have hit more than 1,000 civilian locations in 15 months. A Reuters investigation in January revealed illicit Iranian jet fuel shipments were powering the escalation.

“Nowadays, we can’t even think who we can rely on,” he said.

Air attacks have killed at least 1,728 civilians since late 2024, according to data compiled by Myanmar Peace Monitor, which tracks the conflict, slowing the advance of pro‑democracy forces that lack an air force. The junta says it is targeting terrorists.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the 2021 coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, the first democratic administration in half a century, and triggered nationwide conflict. Myanmar’s military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed victory in January after elections held in limited areas, a vote widely criticised as designed to entrench military power. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is expected to become president.

Addressing thousands gathered at the army's headquarters for a military parade featuring about 1,000 soldiers carrying rifles and rocket‑propelled grenade launchers, Yawd Serk said he aimed to build trust, resolve disputes through dialogue and work toward establishing a federal army, a key demand of forces opposing the military. The Shan National Day event was also attended by representatives of groups including longtime RCSS rivals.

Shan State, a key hub for both illicit and licit business in the Golden Triangle, is home to multiple armed groups with competing interests and shifting alliances. The coup reshaped the local balance of power as non‑Shan factions seized territory.

China acted as power broker, backing some groups, then pressing them to halt offensives to stabilise the junta, which Beijing sees as a guarantor of security for vital Belt and Road projects. Rival forces pushed the RCSS out of areas near the Chinese frontier.

The approach has “entrenched a fractured landscape” that risks deepening grievances and destabilising a state central to Myanmar’s future, the International Crisis Group said in November.

“I have not seen any countries putting any pressure. There is one country who intervenes in Myanmar, it is China and only China. But for now, I have not yet seen any significant pressure,” Yawd Serk told Reuters, declining to elaborate.

China has "long played a constructive role in the domestic peace and reconciliation process, earning recognition from all sectors of the Myanmar society and the international community" its foreign ministry said in a statement.