While the eyes of the world are on the negotiations between China and the United States, Chinese-backed ethnic militias control new unregulated rare earth deposits. Beijing's priority is clear: to secure control over strategic resources, including through growing interventionism that is fuelling the country’s civil war and causing serious environmental damage.

Yangon (AsiaNews) – While the eyes of the world are focused on the negotiations underway between China and the United States in London, and Donald Trump claims that an agreement has been reached, Chinese-backed ethnic militias have taken over new mineral deposits in Myanmar.

According to sources who spoke to Reuters, hundreds of people are employed day and night in the hillsides of Shan State. Some residents reported seeing lorries carrying material from the mines, between the towns of Mong Hsat and Mong Yun, to the Chinese border, about 200 km away.

The mining sites are managed by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), considered the most powerful ethnic militia in Myanmar, already involved in a series of illegal trafficking with strong ethnic and cultural ties to China.

Although it is not clear which companies are involved, China (which is talking to all parties in Myanmar’s civil war) has been trying to gain even greater control over Myanmar’s rare earths.

After China and the United States, Myanmar has largest reserves of these strategic minerals, essential for cutting-edge technologies over which Beijing holds an almost total monopoly.

A Global Witness report highlighted how Chinese imports from Myanmar have more than doubled in recent years, from 17,699 tonnes in 2021 to 41,700 tonnes in 2023.

This has caused major to the environment and to human health due to the unregulated nature of the mining activity. In 2024, Myanmar delivered 44,000 tonnes of rare earths to China, equal to about 57 per cent of its total imports.

Meanwhile, Thai officials have recently reported pollution in the Kok River, which flows into Thailand to join the Mekong.

Recent tests in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai have detected levels of arsenic five times higher than normal, and several experts confirm that the cause is illegal mining in Shan State.

Some satellite images collected two years ago by the Shan Human Rights Foundation showed mining sites in north-eastern Myanmar on the border with Thailand.

Last February, dozens of leaching ponds, usually used to extract heavy rare earths, were also identified. Local sources say at least one of the mines is operated by a Chinese company.

China has long been acting not just as a mediator in Myanmar’s civil war, but as an interested party.

According to several experts, China, which has more advanced rare earth processing capabilities than the United States, is able to extract these minerals from Myanmar at a price seven times lower than in other places.

This is possible thanks to its ties to both the country’s military regime and the armed militias of ethnic groups that live along the borders.

In October last year, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) seized Pangwa, a town in Chipwi Township, where other mining activities are taking place. The area was previously controlled by  the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), a militia allied with the ruling military junta.

Initially, China closed the border crossings, due to intensified fighting. Subsequently, the KIA tried to assert control over the mines as a bargaining chip with Beijing, asking for an additional fee for control over some sites.

This move may have pushed China to look for alternatives in Shan State, where Chinese interventionism has been far greater.

In recent months, Beijing convinced the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) to pull out of Lashio, the capital city of Shan State, and leave it to the military junta. The anti-coup resistance had taken it last summer after a tough battle that lasted a month.

The incident confirms that Chinese mediation in Myanmar is dictated by Beijing’s desire to protect its economic interests, including its strategic access to rare earths.

 

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• china
• myanmar
• rare earths
• civil war
• ethnic militias