For the third time in two months, Bao Youxiang, leader of the United Wa State  Army, has rejected the invitation by junta chief negotiator Lt-Gen Ye Myint for a meeting in the Shan State North capital Lashio, according to sources from the Sino-Burma border.

The first time was on 6 January, the second on 6 February and the latest on 14 February. Bao, citing his poor health (he has been suffering from trichinosis which he got from eating uncooked meat during his days with the Communist Party of Burma) had invited Ye Myint to visit him in Panghsang tomorrow, 20 February, So far Ye Myint is yet to respond.

“He has almost made a stream by going back and forth between Panghsang and China,” one junta officer was quoted as saying. “Why couldn’t he come to Lashio?”
Lashio is more than 200 miles from Panghsang. The nearest Chinese town Meng A (Mong Nga in Shan) is just across the Namkha that flows through it.

Some have also wondered why Ye Myint is insisting on meeting Bao, though he could have invited a delegation led by Bao’s deputies. Previous Wa delegations were mostly led by Vice President Xiao Minliang.

“We are a ceasefire army,” Bao said during one of the daily television broadcasts in Panghsang. “We cannot be treated like a defeated enemy.”

However, despite strong words thrown at each other and preparations along the front, the Wa are not going to make the first hostile move, fearing China will join forces with the Burmese Army against them, according to sources in Panghsang.