Burmese President Thein Sein met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday, a day after a colossal military parade to mark the end of World War Two.

The warm Beijing greeting may well reflect what locals on their shared border say is a return to calm relations, after a brutal conflict between Naypyidaw’s troops and rebels, the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army, tore apart the Kokang region earlier this year.

China says more than 100,000 refugees have returned to the Kokang area of northern Shan State from camps in its Yunnan Province.

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