Kachin-China timber trade resumes following lull in fighting

Chinese loaded log trucks headed to the Nongdao camp from Burma's Nbapa village in last week.

Hundreds of Chinese owned trucks loaded with timber have crossed from Kachin state into China over the past few weeks following a recent lull in fighting between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and government forces.

Hardwoods harvested from government controlled forests in Kachin state are now once again being shipped to China’s southwestern Yunnan province via KIO-controlled border checkpoints at Laiza, Dumbung Zup and Nbapa, according to businessmen involved in the timber trade. Timber from forests as far away as Mohnyin district in southwestern Kachin state is also being shipped through Laiza, according to residents of the KIO's de facto capital.

Local people in Laiza also say that timber from forests in KIO controlled territory including Sinbo, Gawk Gwi Pa and Pang Hkawn Pa are now again being shipped to China via Laiza at all hours of the day.

The large scale resumption in Kachin state's cross border timber trade began just days after the KIO and the Burmese army met for peace talks in the Chinese town of Ruili on March 11. Since the ceasefire talks took place several dozen logging trucks are now making multiple daily trips to a lumber yard at the Chinese town of Nongdao via the KIO’s Nbapa checkpoint, according to local people in the area.

Most if not all of the timber being shipped across the Chinese Burmese border is ostensibly illegal. Under rules imposed by Burma's central government in 2006 all officially approved log exports had to be shipped from ports in Rangoon with the approval of state-owned Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE). These rules are supposed to be reinforced by a series of agreements between China and Burma's governments restricting the flow of timber from across the border.

The massive growth in China's manufacturing sector over the past 20 years has led to China becoming the world's largest importer in black market wood, according to the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and much of this comes from Kachin state.

A report released last December by EIA found that the in spite of numerous official statements from both the Chinese and Burmese governments large amounts of wood continued to shipped across the Sino Burmese border.

The report titled “Appetite for Destruction: China’s trade in illegal timber” featured excerpts from secretly recorded discussions between undercover investigators posing as timber buyers and Chinese businessmen.  Some of the interviews were particularly revealing.

"In Myanmar, they cut whatever species there is there. You know, you see a mountain that is covered in green ... the next morning when you wake up, it’s all just yellow soil. It’s illegal. It’s only because their Government is corrupt, so you’re able to pave the way using money. But so long as you pay the tax, then it’s legal. You know what I mean?”, said Tsai Rong head of the Kunming-based Riyuan Timber during one such undercover interview last year.

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