This issue brief examines the development of the Kachin conflict in northern Myanmar’s Kachin and Shan states, the negotiations between the Kachin Independence Organization and the Myanmar government and the roles China and the United States have played in the conflict. Major disagreements between Myanmar’s government and the Kachin ethnic minority make it unlikely that a cease-fire will take hold soon to end the armed conflict between government forces and Kachin insurgents seeking independence.