US embassy cable - 05RANGOON1256

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001256 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINS, MARR, SENV, SNAR, BM, CM, Ethnics 
SUBJECT: BURMA'S KACHIN STATE: COUPS, TEAK, AND CHINESE 
 
 
Classified By: Consular Officer Walter Parrs for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) Summary:  On a recent trip to Kachin State in Burma's 
far north, Emboff gained insight into a failed coup attempt 
within an ethnic cease-fire group, the NDA-K.  The outfit, 
once one of the region's most significant insurgent groups, 
is now little more than a business organization that reaps 
the economic benefits of peace with the Burmese regime and 
trade with China.  When the teak runs out, however, the NDA-K 
may lose its commercial advantage and might turn to drug 
trafficking.  End Summary 
 
WHILE THE CAT WAS AWAY 
---------------------- 
 
2. (U)  In mid-September, while Ting Ying, Chairman of the 
ethnic Kachin "National Democratic Army" (NDA-K), was 
visiting Rangoon on business, five high-ranking members of 
the cease-fire group staged a coup attempt, briefly taking 
over NDA-K headquarters in Panwa, northeast Kachin State. 
Subsequent international media reports claimed, incorrectly, 
that the coup was neatly suppressed as Ting Ying raced back 
to Kachin State to meet with the coup leader in Myitkyina for 
negotiations and a subsequent deal to lay down arms. 
 
3. (C) Lt-Col Khun Htat Gum, spokesman for the Kachin 
Independence Organization (KIO), picked up the plot line with 
Emboff in a October 4 meeting in the Kachin capital of 
Myitkyina.  When the coup leader, NDA-K Secretary Lawa Zaung 
Khaung, arrived in Myitkyina for negotiations on September 
19, he was immediately detained by regional command forces of 
the Burmese military.  In Panwa, NDA-K soldiers sympathetic 
to Ting Ying, led by Ting Ying's son, forcibly regained 
control of NDA-K headquarters, detaining the other four coup 
leaders.  On October 3, Ting Ying turned the coup leaders 
over to the Burmese regional commander, Major General Ohn 
Myint, for interrogation and detention. 
 
4. (C) In a follow-up meeting on October 6th between Emboff 
and KIO Secretary La Ja, the latter reported on Maj Gen Ohn 
Myint's interrogation of the detained coup leaders. 
According to La Ja, the Burmese regional commander stated he 
would not take further action against the coup leaders 
because he did not want to interfere in NDA-K affairs; 
however, he would transmit their statements to superiors in 
Rangoon. (Note: Three of the coup leaders are official 
delegates to the regime's National Convention, which may 
explain the GOB reluctance to take direct action against 
them. End Note.) 
 
RATIONALES FOR THE COUP 
----------------------- 
 
5. (C) The true reasons for the attempted coup are difficult 
to ascertain.  There is significant dissatisfaction within 
NDA-K ranks over Chairman Ting Ying's exclusive control of 
the group's business operations and his deepening alignment 
with the Chinese.  According to KIO sources, Ting Ying has 
formed a bodyguard corps for personal protection made up 
exclusively of Chinese "mercenaries."  The corps, a KIO 
spokesman claimed, numbers in the hundreds and is led by Zhao 
Ra, a Chinese-born adopted son of Ting Ying.  The Chinese 
bodyguard affords Ting Ying protection to make controversial 
business decisions, purportedly more in Chinese interests 
than in those of the rank-and-file NDA-K.  The coup leaders 
apparently counted on support from the rank-and-file, but the 
support did not materialize. 
 
6. (C) The coup leaders themselves issued a statement shortly 
after capturing NDA-K headquarters in Panwa, accusing Ting 
Ying of recruiting foreign (read: Chinese) troops, as well as 
linking him to arms dealing and drug running.  Not 
surprisingly, NDA-K officials subsequently denied the 
accusations, first in a press release and later reiterated by 
one of the group's representatives in a meeting with Emboff 
on October 5.  Col. Zahkun Ngwe Tao, head of an NDA-K 
commercial gem enterprise, denied any presence of a Chinese 
corps within the NDA-K, and said that Ting Ying had adopted 
two Chinese boys years ago, who now hold senior ranks and are 
the only foreign presence in the organization.  The coup 
attempt was inspired by the same "opportunists" responsible 
for coup attempts in the 1990s, he explained.  Tao firmly 
laid responsibility for a 2004 assassination attempt against 
Ting Ying at the feet of the recent coup leaders, absolving 
the KIO of any guilt. 
 
COMMENT: LET'S MAKE A DEAL 
---------------------------- 
 
8.  (C) The NDA-K, once a significant insurgent group that 
ruled northeast Kachin State, today resembles nothing more 
than a tightly-controlled business cartel.  By all accounts, 
the outfit's sole political objective now is to maintain 
sovereignty over the economic concessions it garnered in 1989 
in one of the Burmese regime's first cease-fire arrangements. 
 That deal, which both sides still honor, allows the NDA-K to 
trade teak and gems in exchange for basic necessities from 
China, such as electricity and roads.  Pictures we have seen 
of the Panwa region show vast expanses of barren hills 
surrounding the main town and mile-long convoys of trucks 
laden with teak heading to China.  When the teak is depleted, 
locals expect the Chinese will be less willing to provide 
electricity.  The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) fears 
that the NDA-K may try to replace its teak resources with 
opium poppy cultivation to finance its trade with China.  End 
Comment. 
VILLAROSA