"...China?s role in the Kachin conflict has been anything but consistent. Up until the end of 2012, when fighting took on a new fierceness and resulted in artillery shells exploding on Chinese territory for the first time since the Cold War, Beijing had maintained a largely hands-off approach to the conflict. Previous to the escalation in December 2012 the Chinese central government mostly stayed out of Kachin. China?s biggest interaction with the northeastern Burmese state had happened through local Yunnan government officials and private traders, who over the past two decades have established lucrative and illegal trading partnerships with KIO officials who facilitate and tax the sale and transport of mostly jade and teak to Chinese buyers. In 2011 alone, the trade of jade to China reached $8 billion, according to Harvard?s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. These actors, encouraged by some officials in the Yunnan government, have complicated peace efforts in Kachin. ?Private businesses do not want to necessarily have the Myanmar government take full control of Kachin state,” says Yun Sun, an analyst for the Stimson Center. ?They want to have more flexible arrangements with local political forces and the rebel groups.” In other words, a lasting peace would be bad for business..."