United Wa State Army

The apparent attack comes at a time of growing Chinese support for the beleaguered military junta in Naypyidaw.

The leader's death completes the generational leadership transition within the three armed groups formed after the collapse of the Communist Party of Burma in 1989.

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army has released images of its forces inside the headquarters of the Northeast Regional Command in Lashio.

From the chaos of the conflict in Shan State, the United Wa State Army has emerged as a potentially decisive force.

The military says it stepping up its fight against narcotics, without reckoning with its own role in the recent boom in production.

“Without heroin and meth, the state probably wouldn’t exist, and the Wa would be one more indigenous people preyed upon by Myanmar’s military.”

The announcement comes after a rash of deportations of alleged Chinese scammers from rebel-held regions of eastern Myanmar.

Beijing's strategic interests in Myanmar and mainland Southeast Asia ensure that the crackdown on transnational criminality is likely to remain partial and selective.

The country's most powerful armed rebel group has played a prominent role in battling the pandemic in the areas under its control.

China’s endorsement of the junta lays the basis for a boom in trade with the fractious eastern state – or so Beijing hopes.

The Wa are keen to shed their image as Myanmar's drug lords or China's proxies.