All these problems in the Kokang region of Myanmar is a clever ploy of the Chinese Govt to keep the 'case' or 'issue' alive for posterity to stake a claim to the territory when the opportune moment arises.
And they, the Chinese, have their style of 'history' to back them up, the same way they claim Tibet is a part of China.
The Kokang area has a majority of Han Chinese, many of them have spread their wing right up to Mandalay.
The Yang clan, originally Ming loyalists from Nanjing, consolidated the area into a single polity. In 1840, the Yunnan governor granted the Yang clan the hereditary rights as a vassal of the Qing dynasty. After the conquest of Burma by the British, Kokang was initially placed in China under the 1894 Sino-British boundary convention. It was ceded to British Burma in a supplementary agreement signed in February 1897.
The Chinese Govt will cleverly forget that they cede the area to British Burma, whose legatee is the Govt of Independent Myanmar.
So, should an anti China govt come to power in Myanmar, then China will raise the bogey that Kokang was a part of China and conveniently forget that the British captured Burma and the area was ceded to Burma.
But then when anyone raises that fact that it was ceded, China will use their usual whine - unequal treaty.
They conveniently forget that every part of China below the Yangtse Kiang that they captured were taken over by the Han through unequal treaties, as is also the case of Tibet and Xinjiang.
That China plays tricks and pretends otherwise for every assistance they give to insurgents worldwide who create problems for a country is succinctly brought out by the statement below
China is a hegemon and to pursue their hegemonic adventure, they plan ahead, becoming friends first and then stabbing in the back and pretending to be innocent.
They are doing so everywhere including in supporting, arming and funding terrorist organisations in India and acting innocent.
I won't blame the Han for claiming so.
They, the Han, are from a Godless country and totally a Godforsaken lot.
By saying that the Han are a Godforsaken lot, I am not using it as an abuse, but in a practical sense. They don't believe in God so how can they be not forsaken by some Greater Being like God?
To rebut the Han may claim that in China religion is allowed. Religion? Is it religion what is controlled, monitored and dictated by the Communist State? It is like stating there is freedom in a jail. You are allowed to breathe, sleep, eat in a jail, conveniently forgetting that everything is controlled by the Jail authorities including the timings.