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Myanmar's largest rebel group quietly gains strength amid civil war. In shadow of Myanmar's brutal bloody civil war, a rebel army with close ties to China & illicit drug trade is spreading bulking up without a fight, the United Wa State Army, largest & most powerful of Myanmar's many ethnic armed groups, has been moving hundreds of its soldiers into new positions across central part Shan State, in country's east next to China, Laos & Thailand.
Officially, UWSA says it is only trying to contain the fighting been spreading across Shan between the Myanmar military & other rebel groups last year shield its own properties & satellite offices. A spokesman for group did not reply to VOA's request for an interview.

With the junta's control waning, analysts tell VOA group sees a golden opportunity to build already formidable might, its growing footprint is likely both to advance China's interests in Myanmar and give an already booming drug trade a boost. Part of what the UWSA strategy is here is to basically expand its power, influence and territorial control at very low cost," said Jason Tower, Myanmar program director for US Institute of Peace, a U.S.-government funded think tank. The UWSA is by far Myanmar's biggest and best-equipped rebel army with some 30,000 soldiers. Tucked away in the rugged hills of the eastern part of Shan State, it controls two enclaves on the Chinese and Thai borders over an area greater than that of Belgium, running them much like an independent state for the ethnic minority Wa. Secure in its remote strongholds, the UWSA has largely stayed out of the civil war that has followed the military's 2021 coup, even after a trio of ethnic armed groups it allies with joined the fight on the side of those across Myanmar vying to oust the junta.
https://www.voanews.com/a/myanmar-s-larg...63683.html