Myanmar’s Jade-Fueled War

Jun 1, 2018 | Daniel Combs, Diplomat
View Original

The remote mountains of Kachin state, in Myanmar’s far north, hold the world’s only steady supply of high quality jadeite. The vast majority of Myanmar’s jade trade is unrecorded and underground, which makes effective governance of the industry very difficult. Independent estimates of the trade’s value vary widely. The vast majority of that money goes through secretive and opaque channels controlled by well-connected business elites. Jade’s arbitrary pricing and the fact that much of the trade takes place in a remote, largely ungoverned area make the stone an excellent vehicle for illicit trade and money laundering. Myanmar’s national armed forces, known locally as the Tatmadaw, control most of its flow, while the majority of financing comes from Chinese investors and their affiliates inside Myanmar.