The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the political wing of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), said reports claiming it had signed a secret agreement with the Indian government to extract rare-earth minerals (REM) are false.
The claim that the KIO and India had signed a secret agreement to mine REM deposits in Kachin State was first reported by a website called Silicon Valley Times. On December 14, the report was translated and republished by some Myanmar media outlets.
Colonel Naw Bu, spokesperson for the KIO/KIA, said such reports were being fabricated as part of a political game between China and the United States and were being carried only by US lobby media.
“The people who wrote this report are complete outsiders. We have never had such a deal, and we have not assigned anyone to negotiate one. The KIO categorically denies these reports. This is a political game between China and the United States, using our Kachin people,” said Colonel Naw Bu.
The Silicon Valley Times report claimed that the alleged secret REM agreement between the KIO and the Indian government constituted a strategic partnership and warned that it would undermine Myanmar’s sovereignty.
The report also claimed, citing satellite imagery, that India is building a 365-km highway linking Arunachal Pradesh, an Indian state, to Chipwi Township, the major REM mining hub in Kachin State.
The Silicon Valley Times suggested that India would use the route to import REM and, in return, would provide arms, medicine, and other aid to the KIA.
“We have established separate committees and departments to manage the KIO’s various responsibilities. We never engage with outsiders recklessly or enter into agreements without careful consideration,” Colonel Naw Bu told KNG.
Shortly after reports of a secret rare-earth mining agreement between India and the KIO surfaced, the Indian ambassador to Myanmar met with the junta’s Chief of the General Staff, General Kyaw Saw Lin, in Naypyidaw.
All REM mining sites near the Chinese border are currently under the control of the KIO/KIA.
REM mining in Kachin State’s Chipwi and Pang War towns is still primarily operated by Chinese companies, with the extracted minerals exported to China, according to mining workers in the region.
