U Tar Htan, a battalion commander [from the UWSA], and U San Kyon, a police captain from the Pangsang Police Force, represented the UWSA at the ceremony. 

Some observers took the delegation as a good sign, portending greater cooperation among Shan State groups.

“I feel happy to see the Shan elder and the Wa representative together. Whatever prompted this, it is a ray of light for Shan State this New Year celebration. The Wa [UWSA] are also a vital armed group in the Shan State,” said a monk who attended the event.

But the UWSA, one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic armed groups with its own virtual fiefdom along the border with China, has attained growing clout as the head of a new bloc of northern armed organizations. The UWSA is a leading member of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), which has refused to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), while the RCSS/SSA is one of the eight ethnic armed organizations to have signed the NCA.

Despite the disparity of their current positions with regards to the peace process, the two groups have already met for talks several times this year, at the Thai border in mid-August and in Pangsang, the UWSA’s headquarters later the same month.

At the Shan New Year event, the RCSS/SSA and the UWSA delegation informally discussed Shan State affairs, Union affairs, peace and spats between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the RCSS.

The UWSA and the RCSS clashed once in 2000-2001 and once in 2004-2005 near the RCSS/SSA bases along the Thai-Shan border.