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China main source of arms for N-E insurgents – Jane’s Review |
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According to Jane’s Intelligence Review, China has replaced Cambodia and Thailand as the main supplier of weapons to insurgent groups in India’s North-East and Myanmar. In an analysis of the Asian weapons black market, the defence think-tank said, the United Wa State Army [UWSA] rebel group in Myanmar acts as the “middle man’ between Chinese arms manufacturers and insurgent groups in the North-East, with most weapons routed through China’s Yunan province. Referring to an arms seizure by Myanmar authorities in 2001 that first brought out the trend, Jane’s Intelligence Review says that “a consignment of several hundred Chinese assault rifles” was recovered while being transported to the Indian border at Tamu and waa meant for “Manipuri UNLF and possibly other factions.”
Confirming the trend, officials in the Indian security establishment say, the Chinese origin weapons are increasingly being seized from North-east insurgent groups and have even reached the illegal arms markets in Uttar Pradesh. Interestingly, while China has increased legitimate weapon supplies to Myanmar and Sri Lanka, Jane’s says that its illicit arms trade with rebel groups operating in these countries – the LTTE and the Kachin Independence Army [Myanmar] – is also on the upswing.
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