The United Wa State Army is the military wing of the United Wa State Party, the de facto ruling party of Wa State in Myanmar. Formed in 1989 after the collapse of the Communist Party of Burma, it is a well-equipped ethnic minority army of 20,000–30,000 soldiers led by Bao Youxiang. It controls territory independent of Myanmar's central government but officially recognizes Myanmar's sovereignty. The UWSA is the largest non-state armed group in Myanmar and has led the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee since 2017.
CRIMENET has extracted 30 linkages for this organization, including 15 cooperative ties across 10 organizations, 7 conflicts across 4 organizations, 8 other connections and footprints in 3 countries.
displacing traditional black market sources in South East Asia such as Thailand and Cambodia
the trafficking of drugs to neighbouring Thailand and Laos.
During this conflict the Wa army occupied areas close to the Thai border, ending up with the control of two separate swathes of territory north and south of Kengtung .