Myanmar (Burma) is one of the most "closed" states of the modern world.

This is
not surprising. For a long time, the military has been in power in the country, which
has established a rather tough nationalist regime in Myanmar. At the same time,
bloody internal armed conflicts have continued in Myanmar for more than seventy
years. This is really a war of "all against all" - rebel groups of national minorities
and communists are fighting against the central government, Government troops
against the rebels, various rebel groups against each other. Vast areas in the hard-to-
reach northern and northeastern regions of the country are practically not controlled
by the central authorities of Myanmar. One of these territories is the self-proclaimed
Wa State in eastern Shan State.In fact, the Wa State is a separatist state entity
independent of the central authorities of the country, but formally part of Myanmar
as a self-governing district in Shan State. This area is inhabited by the Wa people,
one of the indigenous ethnic groups of Burma. The Wa language belongs to the
Palaung group of the Austroasiatic language family (together with the Mon and
Khmer languages, as well as the languages of numerous other small peoples), But
at the official level, and even in everyday communication, modern VA are
increasingly resorting to the Chinese language. During the years of British
colonization, Christian missionaries were active among the Wa, but most of the Wa,
despite Christian and Buddhist influences, remain committed to traditional animistic
beliefs.

The belligerent Wa were nicknamed "bounty hunters" by the British, in honor of the
ancient custom that a man's status in Wa society increased depending on how many
enemy heads he literally cut off. Until the end, neither the British colonialists nor
the authorities of independent Burma (Myanmar) could establish control over the
hard-to-reach wooded mountains where the Wa villages huddle. At the same time,
this territory was of strategic importance as part of the world-famous "Golden
Triangle" - opium poppy had been grown for a long time, so the rebel commanders
could well support their armed formations with the proceeds from its sale.

Given that the territory of Wa is adjacent to the border of Myanmar with China, it
has been in the sphere of interests of Beijing since the proclamation of independence
of Burma. China supported the Burmese Communist Party operating here. The
Burmese Communist Party has waged an armed guerrilla war against the central
government since the late 1940s. Defeated by government forces in Lower and
Central Burma, the Communists retreated to the northeast, where they settled for a
long time in areas inhabited by the Wa people. Hard-to-reach mountains made it
easier for guerrilla action and the Communists actually gained control of entire rural
areas inhabited by the Wa and some other ethnic groups. Young people from peasant
Wa families became the main source of replenishment of the rank and file of the
partisan detachments of the Communist Party of Burma. Logistical and military
assistance to the Communists was provided by neighboring China, since the
Communist Party of Burma has been guided by the ideas of Chairman Mao since
the 1960s.
However, in 1989, when the socialist camp was in crisis, and China significantly
reduced support for foreign rebel groups, including in Burma, there were internal
contradictions in the ranks of the Communist Party of Burma. They ended in a split
and conflict, as a result of which a number of top leaders of the Communist Party
chose to emigrate to China. The most impressive part broke away from the
Communist Party - the armed formations of the Wa people. On April 17, 1989, it
was The United State Army was officially established. Its commander was fifty-
year-old Chao Ngi Lai (1939-2009), and the "second person" in the army was forty-
year-old Bao Yuxiang (born 1949). Despite the fact that the Wa leaders split with
the Communist Party, they continued to adhere to communist views in their Maoist
version.

On 9 May 1989, the Wa United State Army signed a ceasefire agreement with the
Burmese authorities. It seemed that the fifty-year conflict between the central
authorities and the communist guerrillas, which claimed thousands of lives, was
finally over. However, already in 1996, the militants of the United State Wa Army
entered into hostilities with detachments of the Mon Tai Army, a Shan rebel group
led by the famous drug lord Khun Sa, a former captain of the Kuomintang army,
who created his own armed formation in the Golden Triangle and controlled a
significant part of the circulation of opium poppy in Burma. As a result of the
conflict with the Mon Thai Army, the Wa rebels took control of areas on the
Burmese-Thai border. In 2009, a new phase of the conflict broke out between the
United Wa State Army and the Myanmar Government Forces (Tatmadaw). Military
clashes took place in the Kokang region bordering China, inhabited by the Chinese-
speaking Kokan people - Burmese Chinese. U.S.-controlled human rights
organizations then accused China of supplying the guerrilla army with armored
vehicles and surface-to-air missiles. U.S. intelligence agencies hastened to add the
United State Army to the list of organizations involved in international drug
trafficking. In Indochina, by the way, almost all military-political groups are more
or less involved in the drug business. But the United States has long been
"sharpening its teeth" on the United State Army - after all, this organization, after
the actual collapse of the Communist Party of Burma, is the main instrument of the
military-political influence of the PRC in Myanmar.

At present, the United Wa State Army has over 30,000 soldiers and commanders.
The army consists of five divisions, which are stationed in the jungle on the border
of Myanmar and Thailand. These are: the 778th Division under the command of
General Ta Marne, the 772nd Division of General Ta Nsong, the 775th Division of
General Yang Joyong, the 248th Division of General Ta Hsang and the 518th
Division of General Lee Hsarma. In addition, Three more units of the United Wa
State Army are stationed on Myanmar's border with China - the 318th Division, the
418th Division and the 468th Division. Armed formations are recruited from peasant
youth, since the birth rate among the mountaineers is very high and many young
people in the villages simply have no choice but to go to armed formations, where
at least they give out weapons and food is guaranteed.

American experts call China the main supplier of weapons for the United State Army
of Wa. However, this is practically not hidden by the leaders of the Wa themselves.
Thus, it is known that China provides financial, technical, and organizational
assistance to this political entity. The Wa Joint State Army has Chinese military
advisers and instructors who train the rebels in the use of modern weapons. Chinese
is used as the official language language, and the broadcasting of Chinese TV
channels is broadcast on the territory of the State of Wa. Internal life in the State of
Wa is also modeled on neighboring China, up to copying party and state titles.

In December 2008, U.S. intelligence reported that the Wa State had opened its own
AK-47 production line. In 2012, according to U.S. intelligence officials, the Wa
Joint State Army acquired Chinese armored vehicles and artillery pieces (including
howitzers and ATGMs), surface-to-air missiles, and in 2014, U.S. intelligence
agencies reported that the United State Army had acquired Chinese-made anti-
aircraft missile systems. See also The Wa state has been accused of acting as an
intermediary between Chinese arms manufacturers and Myanmar's numerous rebel
groups. The command of the OGAV buys weapons from the Chinese side and resells
them to other partisan formations. The arms trade is thus one of the main sources of
income for the army, along with the control of drug production and transportation.

The main military base of the United Wa State Army is Panghan, where the armed
formations of the Communist Party of Burma were previously based. Panghan is a
city in Shan State, which is actually the capital of the Wa State. Despite its
remoteness and provinciality, Panghan has a very developed "nightlife", especially
gambling, which makes it attractive for visitors from other regions, especially those
associated with the criminal world.

Back in 2005, the territory of the State of Wa was declared free from the production
and sale of drugs. But, of course, such a statement is more demonstrative than it
reflects the real situation in this remote Burmese district. U.S. intelligence agencies
accuse the Wa United State Army of being the largest drug producer in Indochina.
It is argued that in the 2000s, Following the changes in the market, the Wa rebels
have set up numerous methamphetamine laboratories. In turn, Wa leaders deny these
accusations and claim that their people deliberately used the Myanmar authorities
and even the leaders of the Communist Party of Burma to produce opium poppy.At
present, the Wa State occupies the territory of the Wa
Special Administrative Region in eastern Shan State and has a population of about
560 thousand people. Most of the political leaders of this state belong to the Wa
people. The territory inhabited by Wa is high mountains with deep valleys. The
lowest points of the region are at an altitude of 600 meters above sea level, and the
highest are more than 3000 meters above sea level. Specificity of climatic conditions
and landscape of the area led to the emergence of opium poppy as the main crop.
Only in recent years, the leadership of the Wa State, realizing that in modern
conditions the practically open production of drugs is a guarantee of a negative
attitude on the part of the entire civilized world, has begun to gradually curtail drug
production, at least in its open segment. With the help of neighboring China, the Wa
State is trying to reorient local farmers from opium poppy cultivation to rubber and
tea cultivation.Since 1996, Bao Yuxiang has been the permanent political leader of
the Wa State and Chairman of the Central Committee of the United Wa State Party.
Subordinates respectfully call him "Chairman Bao" - it's hard not to see here an
imitation of Mao Zedong, who still enjoys great respect for the Wa rebels. Bao
Yuxiang was born in 1949 in the family of the leader of the village of Wa Kunma,
in the Gaving Lang district, in the northern part of the Burmese state of Shan. The
family of the father of the future rebel commander was large - eight children, which,
however, is quite typical for the Burmese highlanders.At the age of twenty, in
1969, Bao Yuxiang joined a rebel group that was part of the armed wing of the
Communist Party of Burma. Soon, as the son of a leader and a capable young man,
he was appointed commander of a battalion stationed in his native village of Kunma.
Then Bao Yuxiang was promoted to commander of a brigade stationed on the Thai-
Burmese border. In those years, Bao Yuxiang was inspired by the example of the
Viet Cong guerrillas, who fought in South Vietnam against South Vietnamese and
American troops.

When the leadership of the Communist Party of Burma began to split in 1989, Bao
Yuxiang became one of the leaders of the inner-party rebellion undertaken by the
Wa rebel groups. After the collapse of the Communist Party of Burma, Bao Yuxiang
joined the ranks of the United State Wa Army and became one of the closest
assistants to its commander, Zhao Ngi Lai. When in 1995 Zhao Ngi Lai suffered a
stroke and was no longer able to perform the functions of commander and leader of
the self-proclaimed state, Bao Youxiang was elected as the new chairman and
commander of the United State Army of Wa. In 2005, Bao Yuxiang was replaced as
army commander by his brother Bao Yuyi, but Bao Yuxiang remained as president
of the Wa State, retaining full political power in the territory of this self-proclaimed
state entity.

During his more than two decades at the head of the Wa rebel movement, Bao
Yuxiang has consistently appealed to the Myanmar government to grant greater
autonomy to the country's ethnic minorities. In exchange, the rebel leader offered to
ensure a ceasefire by the guerrilla groups under his control and to begin negotiations
with a view to concluding a peace agreement. At the same time, despite the existing
contradictions and even periodic armed conflicts, the United State Wa Army often
acted as an ally of the Myanmar government forces in the fight against the Shan
National Militia, the armed formations of the Shan separatists. In 2013, a peace
treaty between the central government of Myanmar and the leadership of the Wa
State was finally signed. However, this did not mean the elimination of armed groups
and the establishment of Yangon's control over the territories of compact residence
of the Wa people. The Wa State continues to be de facto independent of the
Myanmar authorities. Officially, the leaders of the Wa State recognize the
sovereignty of the central government of Myanmar over the entire territory of the
country, but the self-governing Wa region lives in accordance with its way of life
and is practically independent of the central authorities in internal matters.