Day Four. Thursday, 25 August 2016

Send a written proposal in advance of a meeting to allow your counterpart time to review and comprehend the points to be discussed before the meeting. Face to face communication is used for clarifying and supplementing information.

The Global Negotiator

(Yes, I know. The reader is anxious to know what really takes place during the Union Peace Conference 21^st Century  Panglong, otherwise UPC 21 CPC. So I won’t try to get him/her bored with details of what I did during the run-up to the great event.)

Today we go up to Taunggyi by car. On the way, Brig Gen Pawng Kherh entertains us with a true but little known story: what Mong Tai Army (MTA) leader Khun Sa was doing before the unexpected mutiny on 6 June 1995 which led to his downfall, six months later.

“Had he known it, he wouldn’t have staged it, Gun Yawd (the mutiny leader) said when I later told him about it,” he recalls.

Following his declaration of Shan State “independence” in 1993, Khun Sa, then 59, was planning to seize the bases of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) along the Chinese border.

Two forces, one led by Zarm Zeun (his third son) and Sai Yi (now RCSS vice chair) were going up to the north by way of west of the Salween and the other, commanded by Lern Hsai aka Sai Lu (now Mark Kieng People’s Militia Force leader) marching northeast by way of east of the Salween. His force was to be reinforced by Awng Seuk aka Duan Guoching who was preparing to go up along the Mekhong. According to Pawng Kherh, the plan failed because of the mutiny, which thoroughly demoralized the whole organization and broke its backbone.

However, I also remember a close aide of Khun Sa telling me that it was actually Chinese agents, who were privy to his plans, and who had informed the Burma Army (and very likely the UWSA and NDAA too) that eventually foiled his scheme. The reason: China was (and is) against any movement that was working against its “ One Burma” policy.

We arrive in Taunggyi at 15:30, after a delicious lunch at Shan Hills Restaurant in Haiwo/Heho.