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CHINA MOVES ON MYANMAR
Part 3: The opium capital of the
world
By Iris Tsang
Part
1: PLA masses on the border
Part 2: Casino town loses out
HONG
KONG - Well before the capture of Hambali, a top
terrorist who had been suspected of hiding in Myanmar,
the United States had already listed this Southeast
Asian country as one of its anti-terrorism fronts. In a
Senate hearing early last year, Randy Beers, assistant
secretary of state for narcotics control and law
enforcement, and US ambassador-at-large for
counter-terrorism Francis Taylor alleged for the first
time that the guerrilla United Wa State Army (UWSA) in
northeastern Myanmar - part of the Golden Triangle - was
not only composed of drug traffickers but terrorists.
Myanmar's neighbors China and Thailand have long
kept a close eye on Wa state. During the Chinese
military buildup along the Myanmar border that started
on September 9, Ruili, the main port linking China with
the state, was a focus of the deployment. Although the
flow of narcotics from Myanmar into China is a serious
problem for Beijing, the People's Liberation Army's
interest in Wa state is not just about security. China
has long had a special relationship with the region.
Meanwhile, the United States and other countries
are on high alert because the state is known as a base
for drug manufacturing. In 2002, US satellite
surveillance found that poppy fields had grown fivefold
in the state. Then the US government warned Myanmar that
the military option would not be ruled out unless
Myanmar took effective measures to fight drug
trafficking in its part of Golden Triangle.
Indeed, Myanmar is a big name in drug
manufacturing and trafficking. According to the annual
report of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic
Drugs (CND) in 2002, Myanmar is the world's largest
opium producer, and its output accounts for 50-60
percent of the global total.
Behind these
figures, Wa state has played an indispensable role in
the regional drug business of the Golden Triangle.
According to research of the CND, the US Central
Intelligence Agency and renowned narcotics researchers
in China, opium output of the state represents 70-80
percent of the total from the Golden Triangle. Experts
hold that Wa state's drug production plays a leading
role in the triangle, and that is why it is always in
the limelight.
While it draws close attention
from the outside world, Wa state also enjoys special
status inside Myanmar. Its legitimate name is Special
Region 2 of Shan State of the Union of Myanmar. In
several rounds of negotiation with the government since
1993, representatives from the region insisted on the
name "Wa state" and turned down such terms as "special
autonomous region" or even "special region at state
level" suggested by the government. But as states of the
union enjoy some degree of autonomy under Myanmar law,
Yangon refused to grant the "state" designation.
However, people inside "special region" continue to
refer to their homeland as "Wa state".
Wa
state's tough stance against the central government is
backed by strong military force. UWSA has regular army
troops of some 18,000, most of them among several
guerrilla forces in northern Myanmar. In 1996, Wa state
initiated attacks, in the name of "eradicating the
globally largest drug group", on the Mong Tai Army (MTA)
of the notorious drug lord Khun Sa and finally forced
him to surrender to Yangon.
After Khun Sa's
capitulation, the government started to turn its efforts
against the UWSA. Internationally too, dark clouds began
to loom over the Wa army.
Kobsak Chutikul,
deputy leader of Chat Thai party, wrote that "the US
should not rule out [the] military option in the fight
against one of the world's largest drug armies,
operating freely along the Thai-Myanmarese border" and
"surgical air strikes against the Wa Army would be in
line with the emerging world order".
Then in
March 2002, the Bangkok Post reported that Beers and
Taylor, testifying before the US Senate, had defined the
UWSA for the first time as "an infamous terrorism group
with close ties to global drug trade". The move was
interpreted as a precedent, the first time the US had
treated a drug group as a terrorist organization.
On March 20, 2002, Myanmar Foreign Minister Win
Aung protested against the US criticism, and Washington
backed down somewhat. Priscilla Clapp, US charge
d'affaires to Myanmar, said: "We do not view the United
Wa State Army as a terrorist organization." She said
Washington regretted that categorization and had dropped
it.
But the damage might have been done.
Possibly because of fear of war, the population of
Panghsang, the capital of Wa state, has dropped
dramatically since then from more than 20,000 to about
10,000, and the floating population from more than
10,000 to several thousand.
The Wa state
government has promised to make the region opium-free by
2005. But with only two years left before that deadline,
most farmers still make a living by poppy cultivation.
Despite the government's huge investment on cassava
seeds, sugarcane and pig feed in the hope of fostering
alternatives for local farmers, stagnant market demand,
low prices and farmers' lack of knowledge about products
other than opium have stalled the program.
China, together with other nations and
organizations, has offered a helping hand in funds and
technology and has even sent professionals to support Wa
state in its anti-drug cause. China's police forces have
held numerous joint raids with their Myanmar
counterparts against drug traffic. In the joint
anti-drug actions from November 2001 to January 2002,
Liu Ming, a major drug trafficker, was shot dead, which
was a severe blow to the Ko Kang drug cartel. Another
major trafficker named Liu Quan was netted in a May 12,
2002, raid and later repatriated to China by Myanmar
police.
Wa state has found an alternative
subsistence under the auspices of China. Yunnan province
has waged an array of drug-fighting programs there,
including the erection of the Nankajiang Rubber Factory
where local farmers plant rubber trees instead of
poppies, their single livelihood in the past. The
factory is funded by Regiment 2518 of UWSA and
technically supported by Yunnan. Wang Ping, the standing
manager, is a Yunnan person who came to the factory as a
Chinese technician in 1997. Wang said China has promised
to purchase as many rubber products as possible.
In effect, the liaison between China and Wa
state may be more than just an alliance against drugs.
Panghsang, only two kilometers away from Yunnan's Meng'e
Port, looks like a beautiful Chinese town, where Chinese
characters appear in fascias everywhere and Chinese has
been the spoken language.
Intimate bonds have
been built between China and the supreme authority of Wa
state, such as Zhao Ni-lai (general secretary of the
United Wa State Party and honorary chairman of the Wa
state government), Bao You Chang (commander-in-chief of
UWSA, chairman of the Wa state government and minister
of finance), Li Zi-ru (vice commander-in-chief of UWSA
and Standing Committee of UWSP), etc. These top-ranking
officials, of Chinese origin, received early education
in China, which they have frequented for further studies
and visited many times after joining the Communist Party
of Myanmar, thus infusing themselves with Chinese
culture.
Towns such as Panghsang and Namkham
have figured prominently in the coverage of the
anti-drug campaign in mainland press. Revealed in myriad
investigative reports, these exotic towns have become
widely known among the Chinese. De facto, Wa state is a
colony of China, which although it claims no sovereignty
over the region, manipulates unparalleled leverage in
the local politics and economy.
This is the
conclusion of this series.
(Copyright 2003
Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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