Speaking of this topic, in fact, it is because the Burmese army is powerless and cannot afford to be injured.
1. The current situation of the Burmese army
The Burmese army is huge, with nearly 500,000 troops. Compared to neighboring countries, the number of troops can be described as "huge", with 140,000 in Bangladesh, 60,000 in Laos, and 150,000 in Thailand.
As a small country, why does Myanmar need so many military establishments? Because the Burmese army is weak-hearted, it is worried externally and in internal difficulties. Externally, it fears that the United States will subvert the regime, and there are many civilian and local forces inside, and they want to rely on a large number of troops to ensure security and suppress conflicts.
It seems that the Burmese army is strong, but this strength is a bit fat, most of the Burmese army is understaffed, many of them are empty salaries, and there are war losses, which cannot be replenished.
Serving as a soldier in Myanmar is a very dangerous profession, and the annual loss of soldiers in sporadic fighting can reach more than 10,000 people. Just like the conflict in northern Myanmar in 2023, and Aung San Suu Kyi's People's Defence Forces participating in the armed seizure of power, the loss of soldiers this year is even greater.
The Burmese army is very well established. A battalion should have a full strength of 8,560 men, but in the actual conflict, the final count of the number of men was only 2,780 men, and the full strength rate was not even 30 percent. According to this calculation, the 500,000 troops claimed by the Burmese army may actually only have about 150,000, of which only 70,000 or 80,000 may be able to fight.
2. The distribution of the Burmese army
The 150,000 Burmese troops were scattered across the country like beans to deal with the threat of civilian forces. The arrangement of the Burmese army is generally to set up barracks near cities, set up strongholds on rural hills, and set up checkpoints at intersections and bridges to restrict the free movement of people in the villages and prevent allied troops and others from mixing into the city.
More than 200 such checkpoints were uprooted by the Allied forces in Kokang, a method similar to the occupation of foreign territory.
3. The combat effectiveness of the Burmese army
The combat effectiveness of the Burmese army is really indescribable, and in conflicts with the Mindi Forces, the ** ratio is often as high as 10:1.
In Operation 1027, launched by the Allied forces, the Burmese army lost about 8,000 soldiers, while the Allied forces suffered only 200-400 battle losses.
In the 2021-2023 joint operations between the People's Defence Forces and the Karen National Liberation Army, the Tatmadaw lost more than 10,000 people, compared to just over 1,000 for the coalition forces. In the fight against the People's Defence Forces, which are not good at fighting, the Tatmadaw also did not perform as well as it should.
Fourth, peace talks are the only way out
Given the current situation and combat effectiveness of the Burmese army, peace talks became their only option. However, when the Burmese army has recovered its strength, it may still try to start a fight. Therefore, the situation of fighting and talking, and then fighting after talking is likely to continue.