Myanmar junta set to resume border trade with Thailand

Myanmar’s junta may soon allow goods to flow again through a key border crossing with Thailand, amid reports of plans to reopen the Myawaddy-Mae Sot Friendship Bridge 2 and the Asia Highway as early as this week. The regime suspended trade through Myawaddy, valued at billions of dollars annually, in August of last year in a bid to deprive resistance forces of supplies and tax revenue from border trade. But goods could start moving along the section of the Asia Highway passing through Karen (Kayin) State again on Thursday, according to an official notice circulating online. However, no date has yet been set for the reopening of the bridge, an official told Myanmar Now. “We are making preparations and will open once orders are received. Without orders, we cannot specify the exact date or time,” said Nyi Nyi Zaw, the regime-appointed minister for social welfare in Karen State, who also acts as the junta’s spokesperson in the state. According to traders based along the border, however, the bridge and the highway are expected to reopen simultaneously. Border trade has been disrupted since late 2023, when the Karen National Union (KNU) and allied resistance forces started launching attacks on junta camps along the Asian Highway between Myawaddy and the Karen State capital Hpa-an. The KNU-led forces captured a 50-mile stretch of the highway, but later lost control after a year-long offensive by the regime. However, local traders note that while the junta claims full control over the Asia Highway in Karen State, resistance forces remain active in the area and clashes could resume at any time. According to one trader, senior junta officials had originally been scheduled to travel by car to Myawaddy for the reopening of the Friendship Bridge on April 2, but fighting near Kawkareik, about 27 miles west of Mae Sot, in recent weeks has forced the regime to rethink its plans. He added that the Ministry of Commerce and the Customs Department have not yet released details regarding the reopening of border routes, suggesting that the situation remains volatile. “If they truly had complete control, there would be no reason for fighting on the Asia Highway,” he said. The Asian Highway connects Myawaddy to Yangon and the Thilawa Special Economic Zone through Bago, Kyaikto, Thaton, and Hpa-an, making it an important economic corridor. Its closure forced the regime to arrange an alternative border trade route through the Thai port town of Ranong, opposite Kawthaung in southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region. From there, goods could be shipped in container vessels to Yangon. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, a year before the military seized power, the value of trade through Myawaddy reached US$1.2 billion. In 2023-24, during the post-coup conflict, it still stood at $1.1 billion, but would soon plummet as fighting intensified. In April and June of last year, the junta’s Ministry of Commerce reported a trade value of just $63 million through the Myawaddy border gate, as resistance forces dominated the Asia Highway in Karen State. No new figures have been released since then. Meanwhile, as trade with Thailand looks set to return to normal, cross-border commerce with China through the Muse 105-Mile zone could also soon be back on track, according to local traders. This comes as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, an ethnic armed group with close ties to China, consolidates its hold over major trade routes in northern Shan State following its takeover of the town of Kutkai last month. The move is seen as part of Beijing’s effort to support the junta’s bid for political legitimacy.

Myanmar junta set to resume border trade with Thailand

The move is expected to come as soon as this week, despite concerns about ongoing clashes along the Asia Highway

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