Abstract:

Since the adjacent Chinese border, the military conflict of Kokang area in Northern Myanmar has an immediate impact on China's border security. Based on the event data and field survey data, the article reviews the spatial-temporal evolution pattern of Kokang Conflict in Northern Myanmar, and analyzes the war aims of both the Myanmar Government Army and MNDAA and the spatial characteristics of the conflict at different stages; On this basis, this paper analyzes the traditional security impact along China’s border caused by the Kokang Conflict, i.e. direct war damages and threats, as well as the non-traditional ones that may lead to social panic and increasing social uncertainty. The regional differences of China’s border security in response to the spatial variation of Kokang Conflict, the most immediate security problem is the loss of property and the life security threats of the Chinese people along the border caused by Myanmar military aircraft cross-border or Myanmar bomb falling in China near the southern Kokang, the most immediate security issue is social stability and social safety problems caused by a lot of Kokang refugees into China along the border near the northern Kokang. Finally, this study suggests that the main battlefield of warring parties is likely to further close to China-Myanmar border and extend to the northern Kokang, if the conflicts continued it would have had profound impacts on the geo-political and economic relations in Southeast Asia and the eastern Indian Ocean Region.

Key words: Kokang Conflict, spatial and temporal evolution, border security, regional differences