Irrawaddy-Sept 4
Last month, Myanmar’s most powerful armed group announced it was withdrawing all military and financial support to ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) operating along the border with China. The United Wa State Army (UWSA) met with senior representatives of the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) on August 20 to inform them of its decision—marking a major rupture in northern Myanmar’s armed resistance. This decision did not emerge in isolation. It followed years of mounting pressure from both the Myanmar military and China and signals a recalibration of the UWSA’s role in the country’s fragmented civil war. Following the coup, the UWSA kept its distance from the junta, refusing to host regime envoys in its northern Shan stronghold of Panghsang and meeting them only twice in neutral territory. Before the coup, China had been the sole buyer of tin produced in Wa territory. China’s concerns escalated after the putsch, when ethnic forces seized towns near the border, disrupting trade. For Beijing, maintaining its $1-billion annual trade with Myanmar—along with security for its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—trumped concerns over widespread atrocities and other human rights abuses committed by the regime. Beijing began ramping up pressure on the MNDAA and TNLA to halt their offensives against the regime. But when that pressure proved insufficient, it turned its focus on the UWSA. The UWSA reported China had frozen billions of yuan held in Chinese banks by UWSA leaders and affiliates. For nearly two years, the UWSA endured a financial blockade from Beijing. But as the regime lost more and more territory, China threatened to expand the blockade of Wa territory to food, medicines, fuel and other necessities. With the region’s 500,000 residents facing imminent hardship, the UWSA finally yielded to China’s demand. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/opinion/analysis/uwsa-neutered-myanmars-revolutionary-driving-force-derailed-by-china.html
