Shwe Phee Myay, May 5
The junta’s military has begun seizing vehicles carrying Chinese-made goods as part of a “100-Day Project”, in its controlled towns of Hsipaw and Namlan in northern Shan State, according to the local drivers.
On the morning of May 3, junta troops and departmental officials began intercepting both large and small vehicles carrying Chinese products along the Union Highway in Hsipaw and Namlan.
“I saw them flagging down those cargo trucks and ordering them to stop. They were searching the goods,” one driver reported.
The driver added that he witnessed some of the detained vehicles being released after the officials accepted bribes.
“They’ve been carrying out these sporadic arrests across every township for a while now. Giving it a formal name is likely just for show; it’s not like they are actually taking serious legal action. They’re just taking bribes and letting them go,” he said.
Another driver noted that while the military junta claims to be seizing Chinese products, they haven’t explicitly stated which specific types of goods are being targeted or restricted.
“They just say they are seizing ‘Chinese goods.’ Does that mean everything—consumer goods, food products? What exactly? It would be clearer if they were specific. Most of the products we use daily are made in China. Does this mean every cargo truck is going to be seized? This shouldn’t be happening,” he said.
Similarly, while crackdowns on Chinese products have occurred over the past decade, the majority of the population in Myanmar continues to rely on Chinese goods to this day.
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Translated by #KLT
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