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The Wa of Myanmar and China's Quest for Global Dominance
Published by University of Washington Press, 2021
The United Wa State Army (UWSA) is a non-state armed group that administers an autonomous zone in the difficult to reach Wa Hills of northeastern Myanmar. The UWSA was formed in 1989 after the hilltribe rank-and-file of the insurgent Communist Party of Burma (CPB) expelled its mostly Burman leadership as part of mutiny. The group has grown into the largest and best-equipped military non-state actor in the Asia-Pacific region. As China expands its geopolitical interests across Asia through the Belt and Road Initiative, the Wa have come to play a pivotal role in Beijing’s current efforts to extend its influence in Myanmar.
In The Wa of Myanmar and China’s Quest for Global Dominance Lintner provides a rare, close-up look of a little-known people. He was the only foreign journalist to visit the Wa areas when controlled by the CPB and has returned there since. In a book relevant to current debates about geopolitics in Asia, the illicit drug trade, Myanmar’s decades-long civil wars and ongoing efforts to negotiate a settlement, Lintner traces the history of the Wa Hills and the struggles of its people.
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