Hardwoods harvested from government controlled forests in the state are once again being shipped to China’s southwestern Yunnan province through KIO-controlled border checkpoints at Laiza, Dumbung Zup and Nbapa, according to sources within the timber trade.

Wood from forests located as far away as Mohnyin District, in southwestern Kachin state, is also being shipped through Laiza, according to Laiza residents. But it is also being shipped from Sinbo, Gawk Gwi Pa and Pang Hkawn Pa; all in KIA controlled territories, locals say, and it’s happening around the clock.

This increase of Kachin state's cross border timber trade that was prevalent before a 17-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and the government unraveled on June 9, 2011 started only days after the KIO and the Burmese army met for peace talks in the Chinese town of Ruili on March 11. The last two peace talks were facilitated by several Chinese government representatives.

Since the last meeting, dozens of logging trucks have been spotted by locals making multiple trips each day from the KIO’s Nbapa checkpoint to a lumber yard in the Chinese town of Nongdao.

Most of the timber, if not all, that is being shipped to China is ostensibly illegal. In 2006, the government imposed restrictions that much of the log exports had to be shipped from ports in Rangoon, and only with the approval of the state-owned Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE). These rules were supposed to be reinforced by a series of agreements between China and Burma's governments designed to control the flow of timber across the border.

China's massive growth in the manufacturing sector over the past 20 years has made it the world's largest importer in black market wood; much of it from Kachin state, according to the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). In EIA’s report entitled, “Appetite for Destruction: China’s trade in illegal timber”,  released last December, claimed that despite numerous official statements from both the Chinese and Burmese governments, large amounts of timber continues to be shipped across the Sino/Burmese border. The report featured revealing information from secretly recorded conversations with Chinese businessmen and undercover investigators posing as timber merchants.

"In Myanmar, they cut whatever species there is there. You know, you see a mountain that is covered in green ... the next morning when you wake up, it’s all just yellow soil. It’s illegal. It’s only because their Government is corrupt, so you’re able to pave the way using money. But so long as you pay the tax, then it’s legal. You know what I mean?” said Tsai Rong, head of the Kunming-based Riyuan Timber, during one of the recorded conversations.