Myanmar: The Leftovers

Insight Myanmar

“Looking into Sino-Burmese relations, it obviously goes back hundreds of years, but this particular strand of history is, well, obviously it was a civil war! The Nationalists were losing, and had all but lost, and the Nationalist government relocated—or [I should say], the ROC government relocated—which is still the official name of Taiwan, the Republic of China. It relocated to Taipei, having moved several times,” says James Baron, speaking to the Insight Myanmar Podcast.

Following their defeat by Mao’s Communist forces, remnants of the Nationalist army remained scattered in the hinterlands, including two divisions, most notably the 93rd, which crossed into and then settled in Burma’s Shan States. Today’s interview with journalist James Baron explores how their unexpected and inconvenient arrival marked the beginning of a complex chapter in the region’s history, which went on to reshape the sociopolitical and economic landscape of Burma.

Led by General Li Mi, the Nationalist Army initially claimed it was continuing the anti-communist struggle. However, it soon became involved in exploiting local resources, notably opium cultivation. Li Mi and his forces, facing limited options for survival, leveraged the burgeoning opium trade as the means to sustain their activities and maintain control in the region. This initially involved relatively small-scale operations, but opium production expanded exponentially under the KMT’s control, transforming the region into the Golden Triangle—what is now a global epicenter of the drug trade. The instability caused by So Li Mi and his forces would entrench themselves in local Burmese affairs, eventually roiling the fledgling nation and diverting significant resources from Rangoon to deal with the resulting turmoil.

In the early 1950s, Burma’s Prime Minister U Nu faced immense pressure as the KMT’s activities undermined his control. He appealed to the country’s recent colonial masters, the British, who in turn pushed the Americans to reign in their allies, the KMT, fearing the geopolitical fallout from Burma’s destabilization. Yet the Americans, through covert CIA channels, remained complicit in funding and arming the KMT irregulars under the guise of anti-communist operations. Covert networks channeled arms and money via Taiwan, Thailand, and Hong Kong. Key figures like Claire Chennault, formerly of the Flying Tigers, played pivotal roles in these operations, using fronts like Civil Air Transport (CAT) to facilitate the arms-drug trade triangle.