MYANMAR'S government and ethnic Kachin rebels in the country's north will hold talks in China this week after some of the worst fighting in the country in years, even as fresh shelling boomed across the frontline.
The talks will begin on Monday in the Chinese border town of Ruili, officials on both sides said on Sunday.
The meeting comes after the army captured several strategic guerrilla-held hilltops this month in the hills around Laiza, which serves as a headquarters for the rebel movement.
The army used fighter jets, helicopter gunships and intense artillery barrages to seize the rebel outposts during its offensive, and there has been speculation that the government launched the assault to strengthen its hand at the negotiating table.
Laiza has been largely quiet since Myanmar's army took control of Hka Ya Bhum, the highest hill in the area, on January 26.
However, Kachin Independence Army officers say government troops still sporadically shell rebel posts, some of which have been newly dug as the guerrillas retreated. The rebels say fighting is still occurring in other parts of Kachin state.
The Kachin, like Myanmar's other ethnic minorities, have long sought greater autonomy from the central government.
They are the only major ethnic rebel group that has not reached a truce with President Thein Sein's administration, which has been praised by world powers for making political and economic strides toward democratic rule over the past two years.
