A well known Chinese tycoon, Lau Ying with business interests in northern Burma is resuming import of timber to China from Burma's northern Kachin State since last month, said local sources.
Chinese tycoon Lau YingLau Ying's employees are felling teak and hardwood from the government reserved forests in the east and west river banks of Irrawaddy River also known as Mali Hka in Kachin language near Sinbo after crossing the Sino-Burma border east of Kachin State, said sources close to Lau Ying.
For logging permission in those forests, Lau Ying has to dole out millions of kyat as bribe to the Burmese junta's Northern Command in Kachin State commander Brig-Gen Soe Win as well as Burmese Army bases around the logging track, according local timber traders close to Lau Ying.
Border traders said timber transportation was stopped for some time because Maj-Gen Thar Aye, a new commander of the junta's No. 1 Bureau of Special Operation Command inspected Bhamo and Myitkyina Districts late last month before the Water Festival (Thingyan).
At the moment, Lau Ying is a major timber importer to China from northern Burma. He is based in Yingjiang, China's border town in the country's southwest Yunnan province.
Lau Ying, an ordinary man became rich after he borrowed money from the Chinese government and bought logging permits from Kachin State-based Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), which had signed a ceasefire agreement with the junta in 1994, said local timber businessmen.
Lau Ying has also been distributing electricity in Laiza, the border business centre and headquarters of KIO since 2005.
He has a contract with KIO's Buga Company, which supplies electricity to Kachin State's capital Myitkyina and nearby Waingmaw town from its Mali River (not Irrawaddy River) hydropower plant. Lau Ying provides Chinese-made electric cables and poles, said Buga Company sources.
Before 2006, Lau Ying mainly dealt with the KIO but he got closer to the junta's Northern Command Headquarters based in Myitkyina and Naypyitaw directly because the KIO's revenue has been curtailed following pressure from the junta, said local businessmen.
