"How Chinese-Run Mines Are Fueling the Myanmar Junta’s Terror Campaign" September 25, 2023

U Myint Lwin has lost count of the times he and his family have fled their home. Like the rest of their village, they are on constant alert for the approach of junta troops from the Chinese-run Letpadaung copper mine, just a mile away...

“We can’t count how many times we have been forced to abandon our home,” U Myint Lwin told The Irrawaddy.

The junta terror campaign is just the latest threat from the mine, which has displaced locals and poisoned farmland for over a decade, leading to protests and violent crackdowns by authorities.

Now, the surrounding villages face regular shelling and raids by regime troops, who kill civilians, loot property, and torch houses. Villagers who venture near the mine report being fired upon by soldiers, who also extort money from them at gunpoint.

Troops have killed at least 31 civilians living around the mine since the coup, according to a Sept. 20 press conference held by local strike committees. Another four residents have died while fleeing the raids.

Chinese mining firms

Salingyi is home to three Chinese-run copper mines – Letpadaung, Sapetaung and Kyesintaung. The mines are run by Wanbao Mining, Ltd and its two subsidiaries – Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper, Ltd and Myanmar Yang Tse Copper, Ltd – in partnership with the military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd.

Wanbao is a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned defense firm China North Industries Corporation (Norinco).

Norinco is among the biggest suppliers of arms and equipment to the Myanmar military, according to advocacy group Justice for Myanmar and publicly available information. The US imposed sanctions on Wanbao Mining and its entities in 2021 for supporting Myanmar’s military regime...

Following the 2021 coup, the Chinese companies claimed they had halted operations at the mines to seek a resolution to the long-standing dispute over land and compensation. However, locals report that the mines continue to operate with support from regime troops...

Junta atrocities

Wanbao has allowed regime troops to use Letpaudang mine as a base, providing food and resources as well as vehicles for the soldiers to raid villages in the locale. It has also approved the deployment of artillery on its premises, which are being used to shell surrounding villages, according to residents...

Wanbao also uses the river route to ship copper, and civilians like U Myint Lwin who live along the riverbank must endure constant fear of being tortured, arrested or killed by troops guarding the mining convoys.

This year, troops stationed at mine have escalated their campaign of atrocities. In late June, they tortured and killed two residents of the township’s Moe Gyo Pyin North village. In August, six villagers were brutally killed by the soldiers in Yinmabin and neighboring Pale township...

Troops based at the Chinese mines have torched almost 2,000 houses in Salingyi Township alone, Ko Lwan Thu, the head of the Yinmabin-Salingyi multi-village strike steering committee, said. According to the locals, over 1,000 houses in 17 villages around the three mines have been incinerated in raids...

‘Life would be fine without Wanbao’

Salingyi residents say they want the mining firms to close and regime troops to halt their terror campaign. “Our life would be fine without Wanbao. And we will never forgive the junta,” said one resident. At the very minimum, U Myint Lwi wants Wanbao to withdraw permission for troops to be stationed in its compound.

Local resistance forces have warned the company that it is a legitimate target for hosting junta troops that are committing atrocities against civilians....