Bao Youxiang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Log Pang is a Wa name; the family name is Pang. Tax is an honorific.
Bao Youxiang is a Chinese name of Wa origin; the family name Bao comes from the Wa clan Bang Bla.

Bao Youxiang
鲍有祥
Bao Youxiang UWSA chief.jpg
President of Wa State
Assumed office
1995
Vice PresidentXiao Minliang[1]
Preceded byZhao Nyi-Lai[2]
General secretary of the UWSP
In office
1995–2005
Preceded byZhao Nyi-Lai
Succeeded byBao Youyi[2]
Personal details
Born (1949-09-19) 19 September 1949 (age 72)
Kunma, Burma
Political partyUnited Wa State Party
Military service
AllegianceWa State
Branch/service United Wa State Army
Years of service1989 (1989)–present
RankCommander in chief

Bao Youxiang (Chinese: 鲍有祥; pinyin: Bào Yǒuxiáng), also known by his Wa name Tax Log Pang (Chinese Wa: Dax Lōug Bang) and his Burmese name Pau Yu Chang (Burmese: ပေါက်ယူချန်း Pauk Yu-hkyan), is the current president of Wa State, general secretary of the United Wa State Party, and commander-in-chief of the United Wa State Army.[3][4]

Early life[]

Bao Youxiang was born in 1949 to a Wa chieftain in Kunma, a Wa village near Gawng Lang, in northern Shan State. Bao was the second youngest of eight brothers in his family, and did not go further than his village during his childhood. When Bao was 21, he joined and eventually led a Wa guerrilla group that smuggled opium across the China–Myanmar border.[4]

Military career[]

Communist Party of Burma (1969–1989)[]

Bao joined the armed wing of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in 1969, and started out as a battalion commander for his home village of Kumna, but gradually became the leader of a brigade operating near the Myanmar–Thailand border. Like many Wa villagers in the area at the time, Bao saw the CPB as a source of modern weaponry, combat training, and friendship.[4]

In 1989, the leadership of the CPB was challenged by several party members, resulting in an internal rebellion that ended with the disbandment of the armed wing of the CPB and the establishment of various new factions, including the United Wa State Army, which Bao would eventually lead.[4]

United Wa State Party/Army (1989–present)[]

After the fall of the armed wing of the CPB, Bao joined the United Wa State Party (UWSP), and its armed wing, the United Wa State Army (UWSA). In 1995, Bao was elected general secretary of the UWSP and commander-in-chief of the UWSA, after Zhao Nyi-Lai, the first and preceding general secretary, suffered a stroke. In 2005, Bao's health deteriorated and Bao Youyi, his elder brother, replaced him.

Bao has been the de facto president of Wa State since 1995, an autonomous entity in northern Shan State that runs independently from Myanmar.[3] He has constantly urged the government of Myanmar to give more regional autonomy to ethnic minority groups in Myanmar, in exchange for permanent ceasefire and peace agreements with armed insurgent groups.[5]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "A United Wa State Army (UWSA) delegation led by Vice President Xiao Minliang, Bao Youliang and Zhao Guo-ang left Panghsang for Lashio today". Democracy for Burma. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Jane's World Insurgency and Terrorism: United Wa State Army".
  3. ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-10-13. Retrieved 2015-12-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Quote: "Officially, Bao Youxiang is still the President of the Wa State Government and Commander-in-Chief of the United Wa State Army," said a Thai security officer, a ten-year veteran on the Thai-Burma border"
  4. ^ a b c d Marshall, Andrew; Davis, Anthony. "Soldiers of Fortune". Time. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  5. ^ Bao Youxiang, leader of the United Wa State Army, is seen during a meeting of leaders of Myanmar's ethnic armed groups at the UWSA headquarters in Pansang in Myanmar's northern Shan State Archived December 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
Retrieved from ""