US embassy cable - 04RANGOON121

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000121 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2014 
TAGS: SNAR, PGOV, BM, Ethnics 
SUBJECT: UWSA SEEKS TO IMPORT PRECURSOR CHEMICALS LEGALLY 
 
 
Classified By: COM CARMEN M. MARTINEZ FOR REASON 1.5(D). 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  The leadership of the United Wa State Army, 
while trumpeting the dramatic reduction of opium poppy 
production in Wa territories, is seeking special dispensation 
to openly import precursor chemicals, ostensibly for the 
industrial processing of natural rubber.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C) POOR EX-POPPY FARMERS:  UWSA leader Pu Yu Chen (as he 
transliterates his name) told a visiting group of GOB 
officials and diplomats January 24 that the sharp drop in 
opium poppy cultivation has created severe hardships for 
former poppy farmers and their families.  Half of all people 
in UWSA territory lacked food security Pu Yu Chen claimed, 
calling on the GOB and the international community to provide 
increased assistance.  Note: The UWSA territory, known as 
Special Region #2 in Rangoon, has a population of about half 
a million, with 400,000 in the northern region bordering 
China and 100,000 recently transplanted to the southern 
region bordering Thailand.  End Note. 
 
3.  (C) PRECURSORS, PLEASE:  Pu Yu Chen received the visiting 
delegation in the UWSA capital of Pan San, a prosperous 
looking Chinese-style city of about 25,000.  Discussions and 
lunch took place in a modern multi-story  building situated 
next to a three-story massage parlor.  Chen introduced much 
of his cabinet, then detailed infrastructure, economic 
development, and crop-substitution projects undertaken by the 
UWSA.  The rubber industry featured prominently in Chen\'s 
economic plans.  Indeed, the rugged hills ringing Pan San had 
been terraced and planted with young rubber trees.  Chen then 
made a special plea.  To add value to natural resources and 
create jobs, the UWSA wanted to process the natural latex 
into finished rubber products.  To do this they needed to 
import certain chemicals, some of which, he explained, were 
unfortunately deemed precursor chemicals used in 
methamphetamine production.  Pu Yu Chen said he hoped the 
UWSA would be allowed to do this, as the Wa\'s opium-free 
economic future depended on projects such as this. 
 
4.  (C) FUNNY BUSINESS:  The delegation heard the same pitch 
by UWSA district leader Lu Shin Kya in Nam Teek, a new town 
of maybe 10,000 people located where the borders of China, Wa 
territory, and the Kokang region meet (98-50\' N, 23-27\' E). 
Lu Shin Kya said \"only 600\" families still produced opium 
poppies in his district, down from 2,800 previously.  The 
UWSA district leader asked the GOB ministers for a soft loan 
of $100,000 to build a rubber-processing factory, for which 
they would need to import some \"chemical pharmaceuticals.\" 
The Italian DCM told us he had visited Nam Teek last year and 
had seen a rubber factory housed in a new building but with 
apparently old or unused machinery inside.  \"There is some 
funny-business going on here,\" concluded the Italian. 
 
5.  (SBU) TRAVEL NOTE:  The DCM and DEA country attach 
traveled January 23 - 26 on the Ministry of Home Affair\'s 
\"Study Visit to Border Areas and Middle Part of Myanmar.\" 
The group, including five GOB cabinet ministers, eight 
ambassadors, and two dozen other diplomats and UN reps, 
undertook a tightly scripted tour that entailed eighteen 
takeoffs and landings in Russian-built and Burmese Air Force 
maintained MI-17 helicopters.  Meanwhile, P/E Chief traveled 
overland with UNODC to some of the same UWSA border areas and 
will report his very different (\"less scripted\") experiences 
and perspectives septel. 
 
6.  (C) SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE WA: 
 
-- The UWSA enjoys the highest degree of autonomy and 
self-administration of any of the 17 cease-fire groups.  It 
often seemed that the UWSA\'s Special Region #2 was not part 
of Burma.  Even car license plates were unique, beginning 
with Latin script \"SW\" in the south and \"NW\" in the northern 
zone (for Southern Wa and Northern Wa, respectively). 
 
-- While Pan San looked prosperous, many civilians in the 
southern Wa zone looked poor, bedraggled, and unhealthy. 
 
-- The UWSA troops wore green uniforms with a red patch over 
the left shirt pocket that read, in English, \"UWSA Army.\" 
Many of the AK-47 toting UWSA troops, especially in the 
southern zone, were teenagers. 
 
-- On many occasions the high-powered delegation (five senior 
GOB cabinet ministers, eight ambassadors, etc.) was entirely 
under the control of heavily armed UWSA troops.  In 
security-paranoid Burma, this demonstrates an extremely high 
level of trust and confidence between the UWSA and the SPDC. 
7.  (C) Comment:  Over lunch in Pan San some members of the 
group rather ungenerously wondered aloud if our host\'s 
blatant request to be allowed to import precursor chemicals 
legally was an indication that the Wa drug producers planned 
to stay in the same business, only change their product line. 
 End Comment. 
Martinez