A seminar was held at Chiangmai’s Uniserv Hotel on 22 August to discuss the opening of a new border checkpoint between Chiangmai and Burma’s Shan State, according to one of its Shan organisers.
He said that authorities from Chiang Mai province are planning to open the Laktaeng-Pang Kamkaw temporary checkpoint, which is between Chiang Mai’s Wiang Haeng district and Shan State’s Monghta Sub-Township, on 15 September.
The Burmese side however has yet to respond to the Thai move, which includes the construction of a bridge capable of handling heavy loads across the Salween between Mongpan and Monghta.
Another former checkpoint east of Laktaeng is BP1. Also known as Kiu Phawok it is on the route between Mongton on the Burmese side and Chiang Dao on the Thai side and has been closed since 2002. The road from Thailand leads to the Tasang Bridge between Mongton and Mongpan. The Shan source said of the BP1 checkpoint: “This one should be primarily for tourism, not for trade.”
The United Wa State Army (UWSA) that controls part of the area around BP1 reportedly wants to have it re-opened, but the Thai authorities seem less enthusiastic. “Thailand is still wary about the tense relations between the Wa and the Burma Army, not to say about drugs,” a Thai source said.
A dispute between the Burma Army and the UWSA over the Burma Army’s arrest of 6 unregistered ethnic Chinese loggers near the border on 2 June is yet to be settled, according to locals.
The seminar was officially opened by the governor of Chiangmai, Wichian Puttiwinyu.
Edited in English for BNI by Mark Inkey
