(Jonathan Head’s post from the BBC NEWS on 23 October 2025.)
Myanmar's
army is taking back territory with relentless air strikes - and China's help: When
insurgents finally gained control of the town of Kyaukme - on the main trade
route from the Chinese border to the rest of Myanmar - it was after several
months of hard fighting last year.
Kyaukme
straddles Asian Highway 14, more famous as the Burma Road during the Second
World War, and its capture by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) was
seen by many as a pivotal victory for the opposition. It suggested that the
morale of the military junta which had seized power in 2021 might be crumbling.
This month, though, it took just three weeks for the army to recapture Kyaukme. The fluctuating fate of this little hill town is a stark illustration of how far the military balance in Myanmar has now shifted, in favour of the junta.








