Beijing has Suspended Chinese Ships from the Golden Triangle

 

Beijing has suspended Chinese ships from the Golden Triangle area of the Mekong River following the brutal murder of at least 12 Chinese crewmen on Oct. 5.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has demanded that regional partners Burma, Thailand and Laos take immediate action to find the perpetrators.

Attention has quickly focused on the only suspect in the case, Naw Kham, the notorious leader of a private militia which has for five years terrorized the crews of vessels, almost invariably Chinese cargo ships, sailing on the Mekong in the narrow stretch between Laos and Burma.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Tuesday that 12 Chinese crewmen were killed and one remains missing after two cargo ships, the Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8, were attacked and hijacked, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The unmanned ships were discovered floating downriver near the port of Chiang Saen by Thai police on the morning of Oct. 5. Police discovered on board the body of one man who had been shot. Later that day, the bodies of 11 others were recovered from the river.

Thai media reported that all the men had their hands tied behind their backs and that two were blindfolded. Some had been shot or had their throats slit. All the crewmen have now been identified.

Quoting Thai police, the media in Thailand reported that 920,000 amphetamine pills were uncovered on the two Chinese cargo vessels.

On Wednesday, Xinhua reported that 164 Chinese crewmen from 28 cargo ships were currently docked and stranded in Chiang Saen, and a further 116 vessels ships were anchored at various points on the Mekong River due to the suspension of all Chinese shipping.

The following day, the Chinese press agency reported that all Chinese vessels will return to China on Friday.

“The brutal killing of Chinese sailors on the Mekong River reminds us of the urgency of stepping up security measures in an area plagued by drug trafficking and cross-border crime,” said the China People’s Daily.

The incident was reminiscent of a kidnapping in April when 34 crew members on three Chinese boats were taken hostage by pirates on the Laos-Burma stretch of the Mekong.

The 34 were safely rescued by Thai police within days, though they could not subsequently identify the pirates because they wore masks and balaclavas.

Few doubt however that both incidents involved Naw Kham and his 60 to 100 gunmen known as the “Hawngleuk militia” who are thought to be based in eastern Shan State and who frequently patrol the Mekong on speedboats. Members of the group allegedly wear plain clothes and carry automatic weapons.

A 51-year-old ethnic Shan, Naw Kham is wanted by all the Mekong subregion authorities, accused of drug trafficking, robbery, kidnapping and murder.

However, many observers say they doubt that law enforcement agencies in the region are tackling the crimes seriously as Naw Kham and his gang are still active and appear to act with impunity.

“A couple of other armed groups, including the United Wa State Army, have previously attempted to control trade on the Mekong River around the Golden Triangle area. But none has succeeded except Naw Kham,” said Khunsai Jaiyen, the editor of The Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), which is a well-known authority in covering ethnic affairs and drug issues in Shan State.

Naw Kham was previously an administrative officer in late warlord Khun Sa’s Mong Tai Army, a militia renowned for opium production in Shan State.

After Khun Sa’s surrender to the Burmese authorities in 1996, Naw Kham broke from the Mong Tai and established himself independently as a militia leader among ethnic Shan and Lahu groups in eastern Shan State.

Naw Kham’s Hawngleuk militia is widely alleged to have worked in cooperation with many high-ranking Burmese officials over the years, including the regional commanders of the Triangle Regional Military Command in Kengtung.

Among the former heads of Triangle Regional Military Command are: President Thein Sein; the current commander-in-chief of Burma’s armed forces, Gen Min Aung Hlaing; and Home Affairs Minister Lt-Gen Ko Ko.

But his amity with the military officers waned, and in January 2006 Burmese security forces seized massive amounts of methamphetamine pills, drug-production equipment and 150 weapons when they raided Naw Kham’s compound in the Burmese border town of Tachilek, reportedly with the help of Thai and Chinese intelligence.

Since then, Naw Kham has operated underground.

“He was able to revive his militia in 2007, recruiting several Shan-Lahu mercenaries from eastern Shan State,” Khunsai Jaiyen said.