Myanmar jade trade fuels conflict financing in Kachin mining region

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Myanmar jade trade conflict

Highlights

Since Myanmar's 2021 coup, Hpakant's jade mining land shifted between Kachin forces and the military, fueling expanded armed smuggling routes.
Kachin drivers now earn about 700,000 kyat ($477) per trip transporting jade to the Chinese border amid risky, militarized conditions.
Up to $U.S.31 billion of jade is produced yearly, with 90 percent smuggled to China, increasing conflict financing and worker risks as international verification fails.

Smuggling routes expand as control of mines shifts

As reported by ABC News, fighting since Myanmar's 2021 military coup has transformed Hpakant's jade sector, with mining land increasingly divided between the Kachin Independence Organisation, the Kachin Independence Army and forces aligned with the military.

Local driver Aung Kyaw said he returned to Hpakant after mining operations resumed but could no longer find stable work in the pits, as many small-scale Kachin miners lost permits or access to land. He then took higher-paid work transporting jade north toward the Chinese border for a Chinese businessman, earning about 700,000 kyat, or $477, per trip.

Aung Kyaw and other Kachin residents described smuggling routes through jungle tracks, steep climbs and active combat zones, with armed checkpoints appearing every 10 to 15 kilometres. He said convoys often split the journey into three stages, with the final leg crossing the N'Mai River, and drivers sometimes have to stop for the night in the jungle when clashes intensify.

A 2015 estimate by Global Witness valued Myanmar's jade production at as much as $U.S.31 billion a year and said 90 percent of Hpakant-mined jade was smuggled into China. Control of Hpakant remains highly lucrative because holding territory also allows armed groups to collect unofficial taxes on extraction and transport.

Demand from China deepens risks for workers and communities

Myanmar is the main source of the world's finest jadeite, a premium form of jade that can command prices above some diamonds, and Chinese buyers remain central to the trade because of the stone's cultural and commercial appeal. Since the coup, more buyers from China have reportedly travelled directly to the mines to identify raw stones for smuggling.

The wealth generated in Kachin's mountains is not reaching many local communities. Hand-pickers can spend days searching spoil heaps without finding saleable jade, while migrant labourers sleep in cramped camps near unstable slopes where landslides are a constant danger.

Campaigners are calling for tougher international action on Myanmar gemstones, arguing that buyers cannot reliably verify whether jade is ethically traded. Burma Campaign UK's Min Tent said there is no way to buy jade from Myanmar and be sure it is ethically sourced, while spokesperson Yadanar Maung said Australia has not acted against the junta's natural resource revenues.

Earlier, we reported that the 3-km New Yalu River Bridge between Dandong and North Korea is set to open to revive cross-border commerce.

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