PANGHSANG, Burma - In 1989 when the Communist Party of Burma fell apart, Bao Yu-xiang and the Wa faction were in a prime position to dictate terms for a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese military government.The former CPB faction had a 20,000-strong army with enough weapons from their Chinese comrades to last them well into the next decade.
Fearing that these weapons, as well as the faction itself, would end up allied with other insurgent groups along the Thai border, Rangoon had to move quickly.
Burma's powerful security chief, then Major General Khin Nyunt, went up to CPB headquarters in Panghsang near the Yunnan border to cut a cease-fire deal. The recently built Buddhist stupa, commissioned by Khin Nyunt, is a reminder of how important a cease-fire with the Wa is for Rangoon.The security chief continues to make official visits to the area at least once a year, the locals say.
The agreement between the Burmese central government and the Wa militia established the Special Region No 2 - an area east of the Salween River and along the area bordering China.
Panghsang, about two kilometres from the Chinese border, would continue to serve as the headquarters of the group that would eventually become known as the United Wa State Army, or UWSA.Today, there are about 30 Burmese military liaison officers in Panghsang to help co-ordinate work between the UWSA and the government in Rangoon, said the UWSA's Foreign Minister Zhao Ai-na.Rangoon has also dispatched 80 teachers, along with 20 physicians, to the Wa-controlled area under an informal agreement reached in 1994.The number of primary schools in the Wa region jumped from eight in 1989 to around 200 today. There are no secondary schools and most technical training, as well as secondary education and beyond, is done in Yunnan.The UN Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) has set up an office in the upper Wa region to oversee community development projects that include crop-substitution.
Besides the Wa, the Burmese junta made similar deals with other CPB factions, including the Kokang Chinese who became the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) under the leadership of commanders Peng Jia- seng and his younger brother Peng Jia-fu. Their area became the Special Region No 1.
Two Chinese Red Guard volunteers, Lin Ming-xian (U Sai Lin) and Zhang Zhi-ming, formed a committee to oversee a 4,000- strong National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) that controls a swath of opium-rich territory bordering China, Laos and Burma. The area is called Special Region No 4.The NDAA's stronghold near the Chinese border is Mong La. With its casinos and brothels, as well as "lady-boys" from Thailand, Mong La has over the years become a popular destination for Chinese in Yunnan.
The situation is pretty much under control except that every now and then, the good-times can get out of hand, said Foreign Minister Zhao, adding that a group of Russian ladies were asked to leave Panghsang after they started to flip a few tables following a dispute.
But unlike the authorities in Yunnan who make no fuss about the fact that Wa money is being invested on the Chinese side of the border, the Thai government has chosen to confront these operations.
Border checkpoints leading to the UWSA bases - where, according to Thai narcotic and military officials, millions of methamphetamine tablets and some of the world's finest heroin are produced - have been ordered shut, while border security has been beefed up significantly. With the help of US Special Forces, a brand new unit was set up about two years ago to enhance border security and strengthen coordination among the Third Army, Border Patrol Police and other law enforcement agencies.
But the Wa keep coming. Bao said that the total number of villagers from the northern Wa area being relocated to the Thai border should reach 100,000 in this coming year.Bao added that he will not stop there, saying his "poor villagers are unable to grow food in the north". The aim is to end opium cultivation and introduce new ways of making a living in the southern part of the Wa-controlled area which borders Thailand.The total population in the UWSA-controlled area is 600,000, representing 16 different ethnic groups, Bao said.
Thai authorities equated the "new ways" of making a living to methamphetamine production and opium cultivation - an allegation that Bao dismisses outright.
"We don't have the manpower to curb the precursor chemicals (needed to make methamphetamines and heroin) entering our territory. We need support from the international community," Bao said. "Our people are living in poverty. Women cut umbilical cords with a piece of bamboo."
Thai troops along the border, on the other hand, don't believe that Bao and his army are drug-free. They see the UWSA's presence as a threat to national security and blame them for the bulk of the millions of methamphetamine pills flooding the streets of Bangkok and other major cities in Asia.In what was billed as "an attempt to teach the Wa a lesson", Thai troops last May crossed a non-demarcated border and took out scores of UWSA positions. The official line from the Thai Army was that the incident represented the usual "tit- for-tat".
Rangoon didn't see it that way, however. As soon as the first bullet was fired, the entire Thai-Burmese northern went up in flames, drawing in the Shan State Army (SSA) into the fight.
Bao admitted that his men were involved in the fight but maintained the Wa were not fighting Thai troops. "We were fighting Yawd Serk's SURA [Shan United Revolution Army]," said Bao, using the SSA's old name.
A former commander in Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army who now leads a small band of resistance fighters under the name Shan State Army, Colonel Yawd Serk has been accused by the Rangoon government of being a Thai proxy.
By the time the air was cleared, Thailand and Burma relations had gone into a tailspin. Border crossings were ordered shut and troops were dispatched to the border where, at some points, they come face to face with one another.The scenario has repeated itself twice - first in February last year and in May this year - and there is no guarantee that it will not happen again. Insurgencies, overlapping claims, refugees and now the UWSA remain fundamental problems between Thailand and Burma. The solution, meanwhile, is nowhere in sight.