The United Wa State Army is the most powerful ethnic army in Myanmar, with an estimated 30,000 troops in its ranks, some 10,000 auxiliaries and near autonomy in the parts of Shan state it has controlled over the past two decades. Consequently, the organization has been perceived by Naypyidaw as an increasing threat to the government's goal of national unification. Since March, Wa demand for a politically autonomous state has increased, and the Wa army has reinforced military posts over the past year amid concerns that the military, which has been fighting ethnic Kachin and Shan militias elsewhere in northern Myanmar, could soon focus its attention on Wa territory.
On July 12, the Wa took part in a new round of peace negotiations with the government amid rising tensions surrounding the United Wa State Army's southern base in the 171 Military Region — a region near the Thai border that is roughly 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the area along the Chinese border officially granted to the Wa in Myanmar's 2007 Constitution. Since late June, the Myanmar army, known in the country as the Tatmadaw, has been increasing pressure on the Wa's southern command, with the government demanding a list of bases on the Salween River, and it issued an ultimatum for the withdrawal of the Wa army from four strategic military outposts in Mongton and Monghsat — towns located along the Myanmar-Thai border that serve as critical supply routes for the Wa. The ethnic army has yet to give in to the ultimatum, and both sides have continued reinforcing their troop levels throughout the region.
