China arms militia on border with Myanmar as Myanmar cozies up to Washington

[mota bhai 2,675]

Myanmar morphs to US-China battlefield
By Bertil Lintner

Myanmar's drift away from a tight relationship with China towards closer links with the West is signaling the emergence of a new focal point of confrontation in Asia, one where the interests of Washington and Beijing are beginning to collide.

Rather than being on a path to democracy, Myanmar may find itself instead in the middle of a dangerous and potentially volatile superpower rivalry.

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According to sources in Washington, US President Barack Obama's administration has made Myanmar one of its top foreign policy priorities.

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The US is also rapidly increasing its intelligence gathering capabilities in Myanmar. The US embassy in the old capital Yangon is now believed to have more intelligence operatives than any other diplomatic mission in Southeast Asia.

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Last year, Chinese arms dealers supplied the United Wa State Army (UWSA), a militia operating along the Sino-Myanmar border, with not only assault rifles, machine-guns, rocket launchers and the HN-5 series man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, but also PTL-02 6x6 wheeled "tank destroyers" and another armored combat vehicle identified as Chinese 4x4 ZFB-05s. Now, Jane's Defence Weekly reports in its April 29 issue that China has supplied the UWSA with several Mi-17 medium-transport helicopters armed with TY-90 air-to-air missiles.

"The provision of a range of new weapons systems - surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles and now helicopters - appears effectively to be turning the UWSA into a cross-border extension of the PLA," one of the authors of the article, Anthony Davis of IHS Jane's, told Asia Times Online, referring to the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

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US secretary of state Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar in December 2011, the first such visit in decades by such a high-ranking Washington official. In November 2012, Obama became the first serving US president ever to visit Myanmar. And on April 22 this year, the European Union lifted all of its sanctions on Myanmar except for an arms embargo. European prime ministers and other EU dignitaries have flocked to the country.

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In February this year the US invited observers from the Myanmar military to join the US-led military exercises in Thailand known as Cobra Gold for the first time.

Obama's so-called "pivot" to Asia has seen Washington reaffirming its alliances with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.

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Internal documents from the Myanmar military leaked to this correspondent in 2011 talk about "a national crisis" and "an emergency" because China is taking over the country economically and beginning to dominate it politically - so much so that Myanmar "is in danger of losing its independence". Therefore, Myanmar has to reach out to the West, the documents stated.

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Few observers believe that China would want the UWSA to actually go to war against the government, but the MANPADs, armored vehicles and now missile-equipped helicopters supplied to the UWSA serve as a deterrent and will make the Myanmar military hesitate to launch an offensive against the Wa. They also serve as a reminder that China, unlike the US, is Myanmar's immediate neighbor and has the means to interfere in its internal conflicts - and that it can, and is willing to, step up the pressure if Naypyidaw moves too close to Washington.

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According to Jane's: "The acquisition of helicopters marks the latest step in a significant upgrade for the UWSA, which has emerged as the largest and best-equipped non-state military force in Asia and, arguably, the world." It remains to be seen what China's next step will be and if the US is prepared to counter it with increased support, including possible military-to-military engagement, for the Myanmar government.

Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic Review and author of several books on Burma/Myanmar, including Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency Since 1948 (published in 1994, 1999 and 2003), Land of Jade: A Journey from India through Northern Burma to China, and The Kachin: Lords of Burma's Northern Frontier. He is currently a writer with Asia Pacific Media Services.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

China knows how to make a buck or two. I wouldn't be surprised to see Israeli and French arms dealers taking advantage of the conflict as well.

Edited May 6, 2013 by The Patriot

[mota bhai 2,675]

China knows how to make a buck or two. I wouldn't be surprised to see Israeli and French arms dealers taking advantage of the conflict as well.

It's not just weapons. I was reading the Wiki entry and assuming the information is all true, the economy of the Wa state (which is where the USWA is based) depends entirely on Chinese imports. China mobile even provides cellular coverage.

[GandD 5,966]

This was a good read on a conflict I know little to nothing about.

[mota bhai 2,675]

This was a good read on a conflict I know little to nothing about.

I knew nothing about it either until I read this. In an age when American foreign policy is so focused on non-state actors like al-Qaeda, I find it a little astonishing that this has gone unnoticed in the mainstream American media, especially given this statement by Jane's Defense Weekly:

"The acquisition of helicopters marks the latest step in a significant upgrade for the UWSA, which has emerged as the largest and best-equipped non-state military force in Asia and, arguably, the world."

[GandD 5,966]

I knew nothing about it either until I read this. In an age when American foreign policy is so focused on non-state actors like al-Qaeda, I find it a little astonishing that this has gone unnoticed in the mainstream American media, especially given this statement by Jane's Defense Weekly:

"The acquisition of helicopters marks the latest step in a significant upgrade for the UWSA, which has emerged as the largest and best-equipped non-state military force in Asia and, arguably, the world."

Yeah no joke. You ever see the Taliban flying helicopters?

[mota bhai 2,675]

Yeah no joke. You ever see the Taliban flying helicopters?

No, just passenger airliners. But they don't know how to land them.

[GandD 5,966]

No, just passenger airliners. But they don't know how to land them.