The highlights this week: The Myanmar junta makes a military and diplomatic comeback, earthquakes and typhoons hit the Philippines, Gaza fleet detainees return home to Malaysia, and piracy is on the rise in the world’s busiest shipping lane.

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The highlights this week: The Myanmar junta makes a military and diplomatic comeback, earthquakes and typhoons hit the Philippines, Gaza fleet detainees return home to Malaysia, and piracy is on the rise in the world’s busiest shipping lane.

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The United States, India, and China Woo Myanmar’s Military

Recapturing areas that it lost a year ago, Myanmar’s junta appears to be staging a grinding partial comeback. On Oct. 1, after more than a month of fighting, junta forces captured the strategically located town of Kyaukme from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which had taken it from the junta in June 2024.

The town sits just a few hours from the former capital, Mandalay, on a major transport artery leading to the mainly opposition-occupied northern Shan state and China.

Improved relations with China have helped Myanmar’s military regroup.

In 2023 and 2024, the junta suffered disastrous losses to the Three Brotherhood Alliance, an alliance of ethnic armed-organizations (EAOs) of which the TNLA is a part. China had previously backed the alliance but put serious pressure on both sides when it brokered a cease-fire in January.

Since then, China seems to have concluded that it needs to strengthen ties with Myanmar’s military government—presumably keen to avoid a Syria-style national collapse.

As well as pushing the junta to hold elections, China pledged in late 2024 to provide $3 billion in aid to Myanmar, according to Myanmar state media. Chinese-produced weapons—particularly drones—are helping junta forces regain ground.