The United Wa State Army (UWSA), Myanmar’s largest ethnic armed organization (EAO), held its six-day annual general meeting this month, adopting a nine-point plan including
stimulating economic growth with the Myanmar-China Economic Corridor.
The UWSA controls Wa state in northern and southern Shan State and has an estimated 30,000 soldiers and a sophisticated arsenal of weapons.
The meeting in Panghsang or Pangkham, the Wa capital, also focused on political reforms, reopening the Mansai tin mine, illegal activities and increasing electricity production. Plans were also agreed to improve agriculture, education and health care, according to Wa State TV.
An ethnic affairs analyst said the plans adopted at the AGM are mainly related to the Wa economy.
Beijing’s proposed “economic corridor” involves several infrastructure projects designed to boost connectivity between Myanmar and China.
China and Myanmar’s regime have stepped up cooperation to resume border trade halted by fighting in northern Shan State and kickstart stalled Chinese projects.
In 2023, the UWSA banned mining to conserve resources but now says it will reopen the Mansai mine, which businesses had anticipated. Mining provides a major source of Wa income.
The analyst said the tripartite AGM of the Wa government, United Wa State Party (UWSP) and UWSA reviews the preceding year, plans for the coming year and reshuffles authority within the three branches.
Details of the shake-up and planned political reforms agreed at the AGM are not yet known.
The UWSA and its political wing, the UWSP, were established after Wa forces split from the Communist Party of Burma in 1989 and signed a ceasefire with the then military regime.
Since then, the UWSA has become the country’s most powerful EAO, building its own ordnance factories. While it has maintained its ceasefire with successive regimes, the UWSA refused to sign the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement.
Wa state is officially classified in the 2008 military-drafted constitution as the Wa Self-Administered Region, also known as “Special Region 2”. It includes Mongmao, Monglin and Mongpauk districts and Pangkham Special Township, an area covering around 1,500 square kilometers that the UWSA calls northern Wa state.
During the 1990s, the UWSA expanded into Monghsat District on the Thai border in southern Shan State, with the agreement of the then junta, where around 80,000 to 100,000 Wa resettled.
The district was designated as southern Wa state, known to the UWSA as Military Region 171, with around 9,000 UWSA personnel.
The 2008 Constitution does not recognize the area as part of the official Wa Self-Administered Region. The UWSA wants the two territories combined into a formal Wa state.
The armed group leads the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee, which includes the Arakan Army (AA), Kachin Independence Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), National Democratic Alliance Army, Shan State Progress Party and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
There were allegations that the UWSA armed the AA, MNDAA and TNLA, collectively known as the Brotherhood Alliance, ahead of the anti-regime Operation 1027, which saw the regime losing much of northern Shan State and Rakhine State.
UWSP vice-chair Luo Yagu held talks with junta boss Min Aung Hlaing after the 2021 coup and the UWSA declared neutrality in the conflict.
UWSP deputy general secretary Bao Ai Kham, son of long-time UWSP chairman Bao Youxiang, said the Wa authorities aimed to achieve their 2025 objectives despite the challenges.
Bao Youxiang, politburo members and military commanders attended the AGM, Wa News Land reported.
