Myanmar regime tells Thais to change routes for border trade

Myanmar’s military junta has reportedly proposed to officials in Thailand that all border trade between the two countries be directed away from the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border crossing to the Kawthaung-Ranong and Tachileik-Mae Sai crossings. According to a report by the Bangkok Post, officials from Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce met with Myanmar’s junta-appointed ambassador, Zaw Zaw Soe, on Monday to discuss easing restrictions on the movement of goods. The meeting was held two weeks after the regime’s closure of the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge 2, linking Myawaddy and Mae Sot, on August 18. The move, which left many transport trucks stranded near the bridge, aimed to deprive resistance forces operating in Karen State, including the Karen National Union, of revenue from the flow of goods through territory under their control. According to the report, the junta said that goods that would normally be transported via the Myawaddy route could instead go through the southern Ranong–Kawthaung crossing or the Tachileik–Mae Sai crossing in the north. Thai officials also invited representatives from the junta’s Ministry of Commerce to Thailand to discuss trade between the two countries, the report said. During the first six months of this year, trade between Myanmar and Thailand totalled over 105 billion Thai baht (US$3.25 billion), a 25 percent drop compared to last year. Declines were seen at all major crossing points. Last month, Saw Khin Maung Myint, Karen State’s junta-appointed minister of economic affairs, told Myanmar Now that the Thai -Myanmar Friendship Bridge 2 was closed to curb unlicensed trade. He added that another reason for the closure was the dissolution of about 200 committees, including the illegal trade prevention committee, following the junta’s rebranding as the “State Security and Peace Commission” in late July. He gave no timeline for the reopening of the bridge, but said that negotiations were taking place with Thai officials. In addition to the three main crossings, there are a number of other points of entry along the 1,500-mile Thai-Myanmar border, but some have been taken over by ethnic resistance forces, while clashes along trade routes have brought activity to a halt at other checkpoints. On August 12, junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing reportedly instructed regime officials to treat all trade conducted through these crossing points as illegal and to arrest anyone involved in using them to bring goods into or out of the country.

Myanmar regime tells Thais to change routes for border trade

Two weeks after cutting off trade through the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border crossing, the junta wants the flow of goods to be redirected to less active routes

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