Cargo trucks are finding it hard to leave or enter Muse Town, on the border with China in Shan State, because the junta authorities are carrying out far stricter inspections of trucks.
Since 22 June 2025, the junta has been stopping trucks that are coming from the Chinese border with goods from China as they try to leave the town and carrying out far more thorough inspections than before. They are also subjecting most of the trucks coming into the town to stricter inspections.
The junta has been carrying out these stricter inspections at the Thein Than Chi highway bus terminal where cargo trucks arriving into the town normally park up, according to a trader from Muse Town.
The stricter inspections are taking longer. The junta officials doing the inspections are also demanding taxes on goods from China and bribes to let trucks through which is leading to longer delays as taxes and bribes are negotiated and money is found to pay them, which can take up to a day.
Trucks trying to leave Muse Town are facing far greater delays and problems with the junta authorities than those entering the town. Though the goods from China that they are carrying were already taxed when they came across the border at the Sin Phyu Shin border gate, a major junta-controlled border crossing in Muse Town, they are being still being taxed again by the junta at these inspections.
This has led to a backlog of trucks waiting to be inspected at the Thein Than Chi highway bus terminal.
Some truck drivers coming into Muse town with goods are getting stuck for so long at the Thein Than Chi highway bus terminal waiting to be inspected that they have resorted to offloading their goods onto motorbikes and cars to get the goods into town before they spoil. Taking goods into town like this has the added advantage of meaning that they avoid junta inspections and having to pay bribes to get them into the town.
The aforementioned trader from Muse town said: “They’re doing strict checks at Thein Than Chi these days. The authorities aren’t letting any cargo trucks into town unless they’ve been inspected. So, a lot of trucks are just stuck outside. We have to unload their cargo onto small cars and motorbikes and bring it into town bit by bit every day.”
The junta-controlled Sin Phyu Shin border gate in Muse town is not the only open border crossing with China in Muse Township. There is the 105 Mile trade zone and border camp just outside Muse Town about five to 10 km from the Kyangsangkyawt border crossing and several nearby smaller crossing gates all of which are controlled by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), a member of the Three Brotherhood Alliance.
Currently the TNLA is not collecting taxes from imports at the border crossings it controls, but the Three Brotherhood Alliance has announced that as of 1 July 2025, it will officially begin collecting taxes, using an online system, at the 105 Mile trade zone, the Kyangsangkyawt border crossings and the other border crossings under its control.
The Three brotherhood Alliance said that it was setting up the online tax collection system in response to the increasing number of vehicles crossing through the border gates under its control. It has notified companies using those crossings that they need to complete a registration process for the online tax system before 1 July, if they want to continue using the crossings under the Brotherhood’s control.
It is believed that the Brotherhood's announcement that it was going to start collecting taxes is what led to the junta starting stricter inspections of trucks and charging more taxes and bribes.
Currently the junta controls Muse Town and the Sin Phyu Shin border gate, while the TNLA controls all of Muse Township and all the other border crossings in the township.
