The Burmese government during the 1960s  had two major achievements - the agreement reached between the Government of Burma and the People’s Republic of China to settle the undemarcated   portions of the Burma-China boundary  in the Wa State and the surrendering  of the hereditary power of the  Shan chiefs. These achievements took place during a time of intense political unrest arising from the following issues.

• Insurgencies by various ethnic groups. The border agreement between China and Burma was signed on January 28, 1960 which resulted in transferring to China the following areas: Hpimaw, Kawlam and Kampang, belonging to the State of Kachin, and the Panghung and Panglao areas belonging to the Wa State.  In return, China agreed to terminate the perpetual lease of Mongmao triangle area (Namwan Assigned Tract) and transferred it to Burma. The detrimental effect of this agreement was experienced by the Kachin people living in the Kachin Sub-State situated on the Burma-China frontier by the loss of their cultivated lands.
• The surrendering of the hereditary rights of the Shan chiefs also led to the outbreak of insurgencies against the central government by the Shan and the Kokang people.
• The Kuomintang aggression in early 1951, left unresolved up to the period of 1960, was also a cause for the worsening situation on the Burma-China frontier.
• The question of reopening the Overland Burma-China Trade Route agreed by the premiers of Burma and China in 1954; and the infiltration of the Chinese into this side of the border.

This chaotic situation resulted in little control by the Burmese Government over the porous border which facilitated Chinese migration into the northern regions.

This paper investigates the consequences of these policies for the people of these border regions in terms of their loss of land rights, cultural, social and political rights. Resolution of these problems has been identified as the most critical issues facing the State of Myanmar today.

Khun Sai Kham Mong has been a Lecturer in the Department of International Relations at Yangon University, and Research Fellow at the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.  He has published widely on the Shan, Shan manuscripts, culture and language. His publications include ‘The Wa State (1945-60): Problems of Emergence in the Modern World’, 1996, Journal of Asian and African Studies, No 51, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies;  ‘The Shan in Myanmar’, in Myanmar State, Society and Ethnicity, 2007, ISEAS Publishing,  Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore jointly with Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima, Japan; ‘Shan Manuscripts in Paper Scrolls and Parabaiks’, 2006, Conservation and Study of Myanmar Manuscripts. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies;  Kokang and Kachin in Northern Shan State, 2005, The Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok; and The History and Development of the Shan Scripts, 2004, Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai. The Shan Thammasat (Code of Law) is soon to be published under a grant from the Toyota Foundation. He is currently researching for a new book on Shan History.