WHILE the United States, on human rights grounds, has chided Myanmar’s leaders for its hardline and violent response to ethnic rebels, China also rapped Myanmar but for a different reason: as conflict spills into China

Beijing said Friday that it had made a diplomatic complaint to Myanmar after three bombs landed on Chinese territory during air attacks on ethnic minority rebels in Kachin state, just over the China-Myanmar border.

“The Chinese side has launched representations with the Myanmar side requiring them to take effective and immediate measures to avoid the repetition of similar incidents,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

The bombs landed just inside China on Sunday evening and caused no casualties, she told reporters at a regular media briefing.

Fighting between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army in the far north of the country, which is also known as Burma, has worsened in recent days as government forces battled to regain one of their bases.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in Kachin state since June 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between the government and the Kachin Independence Army, the armed wing of the
Kachin Independence Organisation, broke down.

Hua refused to be drawn on whether China would mediate between the two sides in an effort to end a conflict which has overshadowed wider political reforms in the country.

“The issue concerning northern Myanmar is Myanmar’s internal affair and we hope that the Myanmar government can appropriately deal with the issue through peaceful negotiation,” the spokeswoman said.

Earlier, on Wednesday, in Washington, DC, the United States said it was “deeply troubled” by Myanmar army air strikes against northern ethnic rebels in the country’s Kachin state.

Fighting between the country’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, and the armed wing of the KIO — the Kachin Independence Organization — has worsened in recent days as the army battled to regain one of its bases.

“We note that the government did today admit that they have been using aerial weapons in Kachin State,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. “We’re obviously deeply troubled by the increased violence.”

“We are continuing to urge the Government of Burma and the Kachin Independence Organization to cease this conflict, to get to a real dialogue to address grievances as the Government of Burma has been able to do in virtually all of the other conflict areas,” Nuland added.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced since June 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between the government and Kachin rebels broke down.

The rebels are calling for greater political rights and an end to alleged human rights abuses by the army.

Clashes in Kachin, along with communal unrest in western Rakhine state, have cast a shadow over Myanmar’s widely praised emergence from decades of army rule.

US President Barack Obama went to Yangon in a historic visit last year, with Washington keen to expand its influence in a country where China has had almost unchallenged dominance.