Wa State

Wa State (Wa: Meung Vax; Chinese: 佤邦; pinyin: Wǎ Bāng; Burmese: ဝပြည်နယ်) is an autonomous region within Myanmar (Burma). It is de facto independent from the rest of the country,[5] and is governed by the United Wa State Party as a one-party socialist state.[1] However, Wa State recognises Myanmar's sovereignty over all of its territory,[6] and has, in return, been granted a high level of autonomy by the central government.[7] Under the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar the area is designated as the Wa Self-Administered Division of Shan State.[8] The administrative capital is Pangkham, formerly known as Panghsang. The name Wa is derived from the Wa ethnic group, who speak an Austroasiatic language.

This article is about the modern autonomous region in Myanmar (Burma). For the historical region, see Wa States.
Not to be confused with Wa (Japan), Washington (state), Washington State University, or Western Australia.

Wa State

Flag
Coat of arms
Wa State, as claimed by the UWSP (green),
within Myanmar (dark grey).
Capital
and largest city
Pangkham
22°10′N 99°11′E
Official languagesStandard Chinese
Spoken languages
GovernmentOne-party socialist state[1]
• President
Bao Youxiang[2]
• Vice President
Xiao Mingliang[3]
History
• Independence declared from Myanmar
17 April 1989
• Autonomy granted by Myanmar
9 May 1989
• Creation of the Wa Self-Administered Division
20 August 2010
Area
• 
30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi)
• Water (%)
negligible
Population
• Estimate
558,000[4]
• Density
32.8/km2 (85.0/sq mi)
CurrencyRenminbi
Time zoneUTC+06:30 (MMT)
Driving sideright
Calling code+86 (879) (de facto)
+95 73

Politics and society

Wa State is divided into northern and southern regions which are separated from one another, with the 13,000 km2 (5,000 sq mi) southern region bordering Thailand and consisting of 200,000 people.[6] The total area of the region controlled by Wa State is 17,000 km2 (6,600 sq mi). The political leaders of Wa State are mostly ethnic Wa people. The Wa State government emulates many political features of the government of the People's Republic of China, having a central committee and a central party known as the United Wa State Party. Whilst Wa State is highly autonomous from the control of the central government in Naypyidaw,[9][10] their relationship is based on peaceful coexistence and Wa State recognises the sovereignty of the central government over all of Myanmar.[6]

The working language of the Wa State government is Mandarin Chinese.[11][12][13] Southwest Mandarin and Wa are widely spoken by the population, with the language of education being Standard Chinese. Television broadcasts within Wa State are broadcast in both Mandarin and Wa. Commodities within Wa State are brought over from China, and the renminbi is commonly used for exchanges. China Mobile has cellular coverage over some parts of Wa State.[6]

History

For a long time, headman tribes were dispersed around the Wa mountainous area, with no unified governance. During the Qing dynasty, the region became separated from the tribal military control of the Dai people. British rule in Burma did not administer the Wa States[14] and the border with China was left undefined.[15]

From the late 1940s, during the Chinese Civil War, remnants of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army retreated to territory within Burma as the communists took over mainland China. Within the mountain region Kuomintang forces of the Eighth Army 237 division and 26th Army 93 division held their position for two decades in preparation for a counterattack towards mainland China. Under pressure from the United Nations, the counterattack was cancelled and the army was recalled to northern Thailand and later back to Taiwan; however, some troops decided to remain within Burma. East of the Salween river, indigenous tribal guerrilla groups exercised control with the support of the Communist Party of Burma.

During the 1960s, the Communist Party of Burma lost its base of operations within central Burma, and with the assistance of the Chinese communists, expanded within the border regions in the northeast. Many intellectual youths from China joined the Communist Party of Burma, and these forces also absorbed many local guerrillas.[16] The Burmese communists gained control over Pangkham, which became their base of operations.

At the end of the 1980s, the ethnic minorities of northeast Burma became politically separated from the Communist Party of Burma. On 17 April 1989, Bao Youxiang's armed forces announced their separation from the Communist Party of Burma, and formed the United Myanmar Ethnicities Party, which later became the United Wa State Party. On 18 May, the United Wa State Army signed a ceasefire agreement with the State Law and Order Restoration Council, which replaced Ne Win's military regime following the 8888 Uprising.

Tensions between the central government and Wa state were heightened in 2009.[17] During this time, peace initiative proposals by Wa State were rejected by the Myanmar government.[18] The government warned on 27 April 2010 that the WHP program could push Myanmar and Wa State into further conflict.[19]

Subdivisions

Wa State comprises seven districts (townships) of what the Myanmar government officially deems as the Shan State. Internally, Wa State administers 15 districts within its territory.

Wa State's southern exclave is not part of traditional Wa territory, but was granted in 1989 by the then-ruling Burmese military junta for the UWSA's cooperation in their efforts against drug warlord Khun Sa.[20] These territories were originally inhabited by the Austroasiatic Tai Loi peoples, but now include significant Lahu and Shan communities.

Geography and economy
Map of Wa State

The region is mainly mountainous, with deep valleys. The lowest points are approximately 600 metres above sea level, with the highest mountains over 3000 metres. Initially Wa State was heavily reliant on opium production.[21] With Chinese assistance, there has been a move towards growing rubber and tea plantations.[22] Wa State cultivates 220,000 acres of rubber.[23] Due to the resettlement of residents from mountainous areas to fertile valleys,[24] there is also cultivation of wet rice, corn and vegetables. Dozens died during the resettlement due to disease and road accidents.[23] Wa State is economically dependent on China, which supports it financially and provides military and civilian advisors and weapons.[25][26] It shares 82 miles (133 km) of frontier with China.[27]

Illicit drug trade

The United Wa State Army (UWSA) was previously the largest narcotics trafficking organization in Southeast Asia.[28] The UWSA cultivated vast areas of land for the opium poppy, which was later refined to heroin. Methamphetamine trafficking was also important to the economy of Wa State.[23] The money from the opium was primarily used for purchasing weapons.

In August 1990, government officials began drafting a plan to end drug production and trafficking in Wa State.[29] According to an interview with Wa officials in 1994, Bao Youyi (Tax Kuad Rang; also known as Bao Youyu) became wanted by the Chinese police for his involvement in drug trafficking. As a result, Bao Youxiang and Zhao Nyi-Lai went to Cangyuan Va Autonomous County of China and signed the Cangyuan Agreement with local officials, which stated that, "No drugs will go into the international society (from Wa State); no drugs will go into China (from Wa State); no drugs will go into Burmese government-controlled areas (from Wa State)."[30] However, the agreement did not mention whether or not Wa State could sell drugs to insurgent groups.

In 1997, the United Wa State Party officially proclaimed that Wa State would be drug-free by the end of 2005.[29] With the help of the United Nations and the Chinese government, many opium farmers in Wa State shifted to the production of rubber and tea. However, some poppy farmers continued to cultivate the flower outside of Wa State.[31]

Although the Burmese government has begun taking measures to decrease the production of such drugs, it is an arduous task due to corruption at high levels in the government and a lack of infrastructure to carry out operations.[32] In 2005, Wa State was declared by the UWSP a "drug-free zone" and the cultivation of opium was made illegal.[24][33]

A BBC presentation aired on 19 November 2016 showed the burning of methamphetamine, as well as a thriving trade in illegal animal parts.[34]

See also

References

Citations
  1. Hay, Wayne (29 September 2019). "Myanmar: No sign of lasting peace in Wa State". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Quote: "'Officially, Bao Youxiang is still the President of the Wa State Government and Commander-in-Chief of the United Wa State Army,' said a Thai security officer, a ten-year veteran on the Thai-Burma border..."
  3. "A United Wa State Army (UWSA) delegation led by Vice President Xiao Minliang, Bao Youliang and Zhao Guo-ang left Panghsang for Lashio today". democracy for Burma. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  4. "Wa Self-Administered Division WFP Myanmar". World Food Programme. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  5. 29 December 2004, 佤帮双雄, Phoenix TV
  6. 13 October 2011, 缅甸佤邦竟然是一个山寨版的中国 Archived 26 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine, 军情观察
  7. Soldiers of Fortune, Time Magazine. Quote: "In return for keeping the peace, the UWSA was given full autonomy over what the regime termed 'Special Region No. 2', which Bao christened 'Wa State'."
  8. "တိုင်းခုနစ်တိုင်းကို တိုင်းဒေသကြီးများအဖြစ် လည်းကောင်း၊ ကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်ရ တိုင်းနှင့် ကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်ရ ဒေသများ ရုံးစိုက်ရာ မြို့များကို လည်းကောင်း ပြည်ထောင်စုနယ်မြေတွင် ခရိုင်နှင့်မြို့နယ်များကို လည်းကောင်း သတ်မှတ်ကြေညာ". Weekly Eleven News (in Burmese). 20 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  9. 2009年9月, 不透明さ増すミャンマー情勢:2010年総選挙に向けて Archived 6 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine, IDE-JETRO
  10. 2011年11月15日, 地図にない街、ワ州潜入ルポが凄い『独裁者の教養』, エキサイトレビュー
  11. Interactive Myanmar Map, The Stimson Center
  12. Wa Archived 15 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Infomekong
  13. General Background of the Wa. Quote: "The official languages (designated by the current UWSP administration) are Mandarin and Wa."
  14. Sir J. George Scott, Burma : a handbook of practical information. London 1906, p.
  15. N Ganesan; Kyaw Yin Hlaing, eds. (1 February 2007). Myanmar: State, Society and Ethnicity. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 269. ISBN 978-981-230-434-6.
  16. 佤邦歷史 Archived 1 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Wa State government
  17. Myanmar: Krieg mit Rebellen im Wa-Staat droht
  18. Naypyitaw turns down Wa’s latest proposal Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  19. Shan rebel leader warns Burma Army Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ""金三角"毒王 让缅、泰差点打起来". www.people.com.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  21. Die Wa in Gefahr (German)
  22. ""Xinhua General News Service: China develops more substitute crops for opium poppy in bordering countries"". Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  23. "Myanmar's strongest ethnic armed group says drug label 'not fair'". Reuters. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  24. BURMA NACHRICHTEN 4/2005, 25. Februar (German). Quote: "Angaben der UN-Organisation zur Drogenbekämpfung UNODC und weiterer Beobachter zufolge droht durch die Ausführung des Plans zur Eliminierung des Opiumanbaus bis 2005 eine ernste humanitäre Krise der vom Opiumanbau abhängigen Bauern."
  25. China remains the UWSA's sole patron and arms supplier Archived 17 July 2012 at Archive.today
  26. "World Politics Watch: On Myanmar-China border, tensions escalate between SPDC, narco-militias – Michael Black". Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  27. UWSA Talks Business, Drugs Cooperation with China
  28. Lintner, Bertil. "The United Wa State Army and Burma's Peace Process" (PDF). United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  29. "记者亲历金三角腹地佤邦：毒品造就强大武装_资讯_凤凰网". Phoenix New Media (in Chinese). 26 June 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  30. China's dangerous neighbor Phoenix Weekly 2003
  31. China’s Opium Substitution Policy in Burma and Laos - TransNational Institute
  32. 缅甸第二特区佤邦,一切好象是中国的一个延伸, 15 October 2011.
  33. Myanmar Strategic Programme Framework
  34. "Drugs, money and wildlife in Myanmar's most secret state". BBC News. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2020.

Sources
  • Hideyuki Takano, The Shore Beyond Good and Evil: A Report from Inside Burma's Opium Kingdom (2002, Kotan, ISBN 0-9701716-1-7)
  • Andrew Marshall, The Trouser People: a Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire. London: Penguin; Washington: Counterpoint, 2002. ISBN 1-58243-120-5.
  • The Wa State, Burma The National Strategy Forum Review
  • "Wa leader: UWSA able to defend itself". panglong.org. Shan Herald. 19 April 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  • Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). Traders of the Golden Triangle. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B006GMID5.
  • Midnight in Burma. Ein Roman über die Tochter eines Generals im Wa-Staat, nicht gerade historisch mit vielen historischen Fehlern, aber sehr spannend geschrieben, Alex O'Brien. Asia Books ISBN 974-8303-58-6 (2001).
  • Dr. Ba Nyan, Who are the Wa?
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