Refugees who fled Kokang in Myanmar rest at a temporary refugee center in the Chinese border town of Nansan in southern China's Yunnan province Saturday Aug. 29, 2009. Fresh fighting erupted early Saturday in northeastern Myanmar after days of clashes between government troops and ethnic rebels drove tens of thousands of people into China. Up to 30,000 people have fled into China from Myanmar's Kokang region, according to reports received by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. (AP Photo)
Refugees who fled Kokang in Myanmar rest at a temporary refugee center in the Chinese border town of Nansan in southern China's Yunnan province Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. Fresh fighting erupted Saturday in northeastern Myanmar after days of clashes between government troops and ethnic rebels drove tens of thousands of people into China. Up to 30,000 people have fled into China from Myanmar's Kokang region, according to reports received by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.(AP Photo)
A baby sleeps amongst refugees from Myanmar at a temporary refugee camp set up in Nanshan, in southwestern China's Yunnan province, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. Thousands of refugees have fled across the Chinese border to escape fighting between government troops and ethnic militia in Myanmar's Kokang region.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Refugees from Myanmar sleep at a temporary refugee camp set up in Nanshan, in southwestern China's Yunnan province, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. Thousands of refugees have fled across the Chinese border to escape fighting between government troops and ethnic militia in Myanmar's Kokang region.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A Myanmar man holds a child at a refugee camp in Nanshan, in southwestern China's Yunnan province, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. Thousands of refugees have fled across the Chinese border to escape fighting between government troops and ethnic militia in Myanmar's Kokang region.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
By NG HAN GUAN, Associated Press Writer MENG PENG, China – Fighting subsided Sunday along China's southern border after days of clashes between Myanmar government troops and ethnic rebels sent up to 30,000 refugees streaming into China.
Some rebels turned their guns over to Chinese authorities and swapped their uniforms for civilian clothes, tired of being outnumbered by thousands of Myanmar troops. A U.S.-based Myanmar watchdog group said the majority of rebels had "surrendered to China," but it was not clear whether their leader was among them.
"There was no way we would win," said one former rebel, Ri Chenchuan, as he shopped for new clothes in the few shops of Meng Peng, a mountain town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border. Several former rebels said they arrived Saturday and slept in the open-air vegetable market.
The clashes have posed a major concern to Communist China and its goal of stability ahead of the sensitive Oct. 1 celebration of its 60th anniversary. At least one person was killed and dozens injured when a bomb was tossed into China on Saturday, a report said. Beijing has told Myanmar to end the fighting.
The violence also threatens to strain China's close relationship with Myanmar's military junta, which has been trying to consolidate control over several armed ethnic groups along its borders to ensure next year's national elections, the first in nearly 20 years, go smoothly.
An official with the Public Security Bureau in China's Zhenkang county, which oversees the border area, said Sunday there had been no reports of fighting since late Saturday. Like many Chinese officials, he refused to give his name.
In Meng Peng, several men told The Associated Press they had turned in their weapons to Chinese officials. Dozens of the men wearing blue cotton pants and shirts, issued to them when they surrendered their green rebel uniforms, were seen shopping for civilian clothes.
Li Jiayun said he and others decided to retreat "so that more civilians didn't get hurt."
There was no way to tell how many people in Myanmar have been killed or wounded in the fighting. State-controlled media in Myanmar, also known as Burma, have not reported the violence.
The Kokang are an ethnic Han Chinese minority group that speaks Chinese and, according to exiled Myanmar rights activists, has received support for decades from China because of its traditional ties to the Communist Party.
The Washington-based U.S. Campaign for Burma said about 700 rebels from the Kokang ethnic minority's militia had fled from thousands of Myanmar troops into China late Saturday, but tensions remained high.
"The majority of the Kokang troops have surrendered to China," said Aung Din, the campaign's executive director. There were conflicting accounts of whether militia leader Peng Jiashen was among them, he said.
But Myanmar's junta is expected to target other ethnic minorities along the border, Aung Din said. Several armed ethnic groups along the border with China are resisting pressure from the junta to join with the military to become border guards ahead of next year's elections.
"There will be more fighting, more tension and more conflict because the regime will continue to try to force these groups to surrender their arms," Aung Din said.
The conflict area is on the fringe of the drug-producing Golden Triangle region where Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet. Many of the ethnic armies there have used the drug trade to finance their operations. The Kokang and neighboring Wa regions, both isolated by mountainous terrain and a lack of roads, were traditionally Myanmar's main poppy growing areas.
Myanmar is the second largest exporter of heroin after Afghanistan.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said up to 30,000 people have poured into the Chinese border town of Nansan from Kokang since early this month after a confrontation between the government and rebels on Aug. 8. Chinese authorities are providing emergency food, shelter and medical care, it said.
Hundreds of refugees could be seen milling around Nansan on Sunday. Many hiked or drove up to a popular tourist spot to take photos of the heavily guarded border crossing.
The refugee camps, however, were off limits to foreign reporters. Li Hui, a local Foreign Affairs Department official, told AP reporters that media were not allowed in the settlement areas and ordered them to leave.
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Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok contributed to this report.
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