Myanmar’s Kachin rebels stop rare earth exports to China

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.

An ethnic minority insurgent group in Myanmar has closed crossings it controls on the border with China, cutting off exports of valuable rare earths in response to recent closures of the border by China, residents of the area said on Thursday.

The Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, which has been fighting on and off for decades for self-determination in Myanmar’s northernmost state, has made significant gains against junta forces over the past year, capturing territory, including some major rare-earth mines, and 10 border checkpoints.

Rare earths are used in the manufacture of numerous items, from electric cars to wind turbines and cell phones, in Chinese factories, but the mining of the minerals essential for the green transition causes significant pollution.

China, which the environmental group Global Witness said in a recent report had effectively outsourced its rare earth extraction to Myanmar, has also been trying to press insurgent groups battling the Myanmar junta to make peace by sealing the border to trade.

The KIA had responded by sealing the part of the border under its control, cutting off cross-border shipments of inputs needed for rare earth mining and the export of the minerals back to China, residents in the border region of Kachin state told Radio Free Asia.

“China keeps opening and closing the gates. Now, the KIA has closed them,” said a resident of Mai Ja Yang town, which is on the border with China, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of the state capital, Myitkyina.

The resident, who declined to be identified for security reasons, said the KIA had closed the border there and at crossings at Lai Zar and Pang War on Tuesday.

“As for rare earth mining, that’s all been closed because we don’t have the materials we need to extract them,” the resident said, referring to fuel and chemical inputs.

RFA tried to contact KIA spokesman Naw Bu for information about the situation but he did not respond by the time of publication.

RFA was not able to contact Chinese authorities or rare earth processors for comment and China’s embassy in Myanmar has not responded to inquiries from RFA.

Economic pressure

China has extensive economic interests in resource-rich Myanmar including energy pipelines that traverse the Southeast Asian nation, from the Indian Ocean to southern China’s Yunnan province, and several mining projects.

While China backs the Myanmar military it also has contacts with anti-junta insurgent groups, especially those in northern and northeastern Myanmar, including the KIA, and has called on the rival sides to negotiate.

In late October, China shut six border gates, causing shortages and price surges for fuel and household goods along Kachin state border towns, residents there said.

As well as closing border crossings to put economic pressure on the insurgents, China has also closed its border to civilians fleeing fighting.

At the Pang War border crossing, about 160 km (100 miles) northeast of Mai Ja Yang, China has sealed the border to traders and civilians but was allowing trucks hauling rare earths from the Kachin state mines to enter China.

So the KIA, which recently captured the border post, stopped the trucks, a person affiliated with the KIA said.

“As for the gate, China closed it so the KIA did too,” said the person, who also declined to be identified for security reasons.

“The KIA blocked the road with wood and barbed wire.”

Global Witness said in a report this year that there are more than 300 rare earth mines in Kachin state’s Chipwi and Pang War townships exporting to China, which the group said controls nearly 90% of global rare earth capacity.

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Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA staff.