China says it has brokered a ceasefire between Myanmar’s military government and a major ethnic rebel group in the country’s northeast.

The Myanmar military and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) signed a formal agreement for a ceasefire that began on Saturday, China's foreign ministry said, halting fighting near the border of both countries.

In a rare call, the junta asked other nations to “participate in combating online scams and online gambling”. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The peace deal comes into effect on the weekend but experts aren't convinced it will lead to hostilities easing across the war-torn country.

Officials from China, Myanmar, Thailand reached consensus on eradicating telecommunication fraud centres in Myanmar on Tuesday during a meeting in the Chinese city of Kunming, said China's national broadcaster.

Following his ordeal, China’s embassies in Thailand and Myanmar have warned their citizens to beware of recruitment scams, while the state-run China Daily published an opinion piece warning that lawlessness “could undermine the confidence of Chinese tourists in neighboring countries.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers are gathering for their first meeting this year under the regional bloc’s new chair, Malaysia, seeking a breakthrough over Myanmar’s drawn-out civil war and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Scammers under leading telecom fraud syndicates in north Myanmar are handed over to Chinese custody, on January 30, 2024. Photo: VCG. A senior officials' meeting on Lancang-Mekong

Myanmar's ruling junta said Tuesday it had deported to China more than 50,000 people suspected of involvement in online scam operations since October 2023, as it made a rare call to neighbouring countries to intervene.

China's foreign ministry says Myanmar's junta and an armed ethnic group have agreed to a ceasefire, brokered by Beijing.

Some 55,000 foreigners, including more than 53,000 Chinese, involved in border scams deported since October 2023

After three years of failed diplomacy, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has upped the ante and warned the military junta in Myanmar to end the civil war and allow the free flow of much-needed humanitarian aid.