Beyond Proxies? China-UWSA Relations and Agency in Myanmar Civil War

• In Event: Armed Group Agency during Civil Wars

Abstract

How do proxies negotiate spaces of agency vis-à-vis their patron state? This paper examines this question through a study of the relationship between China and the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the strongest Ethnic Armed Organisation (EAO) in Myanmar. The literature, especially the dominant principal-agent approach, emphasizes the subordinate role of proxies, such as the UWSA, in their relations with their patrons, such as China. However, the relationship is far more complex. The crucial question arises: How is the UWSA positioning itself in its relations with other domestic actors to avoid the loss of its agency to the Chinese? Albeit under pressure from Beijing's renewed involvement strategy in Myanmar, the paper argues that the UWSA is not as deprived of agency as the literature suggests. The paper demonstrates how the UWSA has positioned itself as a pivotal actor among non-signatory groups in the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement and as a supplier of weapons to smaller Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) opposing the junta. We interpret the cultivation of these domestic relations as a strategic move by the UWSA to enhance its influence in the post-conflict landscape of Myanmar and maintain autonomy vis-à-vis China. Then, the paper shows that the UWSA preserves agency through the continuation of drug production and exportation, even as China condemns this practice. We suggest that the drug market is a way for the UWSA to be economically independent and not depend on the Chinese market to thrive. The paper forces us to rethink proxy ties as multilevel interactions. Non-state armed groups like the UWSA may employ domestic political strategies to attain varying degrees of autonomy in their interactions with international sponsors, such as China.

Authors

• Alexandre Pelletier, Université Laval

• Alexandre Lord