Synopses & Reviews
A wonderfully informative and hard hitting account of little known events which sheds light on the challenges confronting the United States in Southeast Asia during the turbulent years following the Communist victory in China. Relying on his many years of diplomatic experience in the region, Mr. Gibson relates the fascinating story of the fate of remnants of Chiang Kai-shek's defeated army as they roamed over the remote junction of the Burma-Thai-Laos border, now more popularly known as the Golden Triangle. We owe our thanks to Mr. Gibson for reminding us of yet another instance where covert action brought us more grief than relief.
Burt Levin, Former U.S. Ambassador to Burma
Visiting Professor, Asian Studies, Carleton College
This is more than a history of a forgotten war. It explains the origin of the chaos and anarchy that have made it possible for the Golden Triangle drug trade to flourish to this day. And it shows that opium has always been an integral part of insurgency as well as counter-insurgency in one of Southeast Asia’s most volatile regions. Rich in detail and brilliantly researched.
Bertil Lintner, Author, Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency Since
The military history of the Chinese Nationalist units that crossed into the Golden Triangle region of Southeast Asia following their defeat in the Chinese Civil war would extend for three subsequent decades. It is a story of failure, lies, drug dealing, corruption, international intrigue, and personal feuds, yet also one of perseverance and survival in no small part because of the Chinese soldiers’ very presence -- became a focal point of international rivalries during the Cold War. Demonstrating the value of collaborative international research, in The Secret Army Richard M. Gibson and Wen-hua Chen have carefully traced and admirably clarified the complex history of the Nationalist troops in the Golden Triangle through extensive archival research and interviews.
E. Bruce Reynolds, Professor of History, San Jose State University, and Author, Thailand’s Secret War: OSS, SOE, and the Free Thai Underground during World War II.
In 1950, the region where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet was essentially ungoverned, at least not by the authorities in Rangoon, Vientiane and Bangkok who claimed sovereignty over these borderlands. Remnants of the Chinese National Army – the KMT – defeated on the Chinese mainland by Mao’s communists, retreated into this space. Their leaders and their supporters on Taiwan dreamt of recapturing China from a base in the region. Over the next three decades that dream faded and then died as the KMT found itself increasingly enmeshed in the Golden Triangle’s drug trade, ethnic politics and local insurgencies. Gibson and Chen tell this little known story in a fast-paced narrative rich in detail, drawing on a wide range of documentary sources and personal interviews with those involved. A valuable contribution to students of the history of modern mainland South-east Asia.
Victor L. Tomseth, Former U.S. Ambassador to Laos
Synopsis
Driven from Yunnan at the close of China’s civil war, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Chinese armies forcibly occupied much of northeastern Burma in early 1950. With support from the American CIA and Thailand’s military government, General Li Mi led those armies into Yunnan the next year. They were pushed back into Burma. Thereafter, Li Mi built a major base and settled in Burma’s Shan State. His meddling in Burma’s ethnic insurgencies destabilized that new nation. Moreover, recruiting unsavory armed border groups, Li Mi’s army, known as the Kuomintang, or KMT, soon dominated the Golden Triangle opium trade. Only when pressured by Washington and the United Nations did Taipei remove several thousand of its troops in 1953-54. Several thousand chose to remain.
In the late 1950s, amidst popular discontent on the Mainland, reinforcements from Taiwan prepared its army in Burma for another invasion of Yunnan. That plan was derailed in late 1960 when, at Rangoon’s invitation, the PLA entered Burma and drove the KMT into Thailand and Laos. An international outcry over Taiwan’s no-longer-secret army and intense US pressure forced Chiang to remove all but 3,000-4,000 troops. Several hundred remained to fight as mercenaries for the Lao government but most that did not evacuate continued their drug trafficking from bases on the Thai-Burma border
Separately, Taiwan’s Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense (IBMND) built a large intelligence-gathering and paramilitary force in Northeast Burma. Allied with anti-Rangoon insurgent drug trafficking groups, the IBMND fought both the Burmese government and Burma’s communist insurgents while launching ineffectual forays into Yunnan. Mostly, however, it trafficked in drugs.
Beginning in the 1970s, aging KMT units helped the Thai defeat communist guerrillas in North Thailand. In return, most of the Nationalist Chinese remnants were given right of residence and, eventually, citizenship. With international assistance, Thailand’s new residents and their children prospered, largely weaning themselves from the narcotics trade in favor of agriculture and other lawful livelihoods. Today’s KMT villages in North Thailand are prosperous settlements with little of the drug trafficking for which their inhabitants were once notorious.
Synopsis
How Chiang Kai-shek’s defeated Koumintang army secretly dominated the Asian drug tradeBased on recently declassified government documents, this book reveals the shocking true story of what happened after the Chinese Nationalists lost the revolution. Supported by Taiwan, the CIA, and the Thai government, the Koumintang reinvented itself as an anti-communist mercenary army fighting into the 1980s, before eventually becoming the drug lords who would make the Golden Triangle a household name.
Synopsis
Based on recently released intelligence documents, The Secret Army: Chiang Kai-Shek and the Drug Warlords of the Golden Triangle chronicles one of Asia’s most covert and lengthy wars.
Driven from Yunnan at the close of China’s civil war, Chiang Kai-shek’s defeated Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) armies retreated into Northeast Burma’s remote Shan State in early 1950. Supported briefly by the American CIA and Thailand’s military government, General Li Mi led those armies in an unsuccessful 1951 invasion of Yunnan. Back in Burma, they brought chaos that destabilized that new nation by allying with the Karen tribes and other armed insurgent groups to dominate the Golden Triangle narcotics trade.
In late 1960, Burmese and Communist Chinese forces drove most of the KMT into Thailand and Laos. An international outcry over Taiwan’s no-longer-secret army and intense U.S. pressure forced Chiang Kai-shek to remove most of the remaining units. Those that remained fought as mercenaries for the Lao government but most continued trafficking drugs from bases on Thailand’s northern borders. There, aging KMT soldiers helped Thailand defeat communist guerrillas in return for the right of residence and, eventually, citizenship.
With international assistance, Thailand’s new residents prospered, weaning themselves from the narcotics trade in favor of lawful livelihoods and integration into broader Thai society. Today’s KMT villages in North Thailand are prosperous settlements with little of the drug trafficking for which their inhabitants were once notorious.
This is their compelling story.
Synopsis
The incredible story of how Chiang Kai-shek's defeated army came to dominate the Asian drug tradeAfter their defeat in China's civil war, remnants of Chiang Kai-shek's armies took refuge in Burma before being driven into Thailand and Laos. Based on recently declassified government documents, The Secret Army: Chiang Kai-shek and the Drug Warlords of the Golden Triangle reveals the shocking true story of what happened after the Chinese Nationalists lost the revolution. Supported by Taiwan, the CIA, and the Thai government, this former army reinvented itself as an anti-communist mercenary force, fighting into the 1980s, before eventually becoming the drug lords who made the Golden Triangle a household name.
Offering a previously unseen look inside the post-war workings of the Kuomintang army, historians Richard Gibson and Wen-hua Chen explore how this fallen military group dominated the drug trade in Southeast Asia for more than three decades.
- Based on recently released, previously classified government documents
- Draws on interviews with active participants, as well as a variety of Chinese, Thai, and Burmese written sources
- Includes unique insights drawn from author Richard Gibson's personal experiences with anti-narcotics trafficking efforts in the Golden Triangle
A fascinating look at an untold piece of Chinese—and drug-running—history, The Secret Army offers a revealing look into the history of one of the most infamous drug cartels in Asia.
About the Author
Richard M. Gibson earned a B.S. in 1965 and in 1966 an M.A. in history at San Jose State College, San Jose, California. As a Naval officer from 1966-71, he served aboard ships in the Gulf of Tonkin and taught history at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.As a career US Department of State Foreign Service Officer, Gibson's work on East Asian affairs included postings to Rangoon, Burma (1974-75); Office of Thailand and Burma Affairs (1975-77); Office of International Narcotics Matters (1977-79); Songkhla, Thailand (1980-82); Bangkok, Thailand (1982-85); Okinawa, Japan (1987-89); Chiang Mai, Thailand (1989-1992); Sapporo, Japan (1994-95). Gibson received the Department of State's Meritorious and Superior honor awards.
After retiring from the Department of State in 1997, Gibson worked as the East Asian specialist for Drug Strategies, a narcotics control think tank in Washington, DC (1997-1998); managed an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) field office and regional coordinating center in Croatia (1998-99); worked as a project manager for the US Agency for International Development in Croatia (1999-2000); and for Raytheon Company (2001-2005).
He currently works part-time for the Department of State in Washington, DC. Previous publications include, Richard M. Gibson, Hill Tribes of the Golden Triangle, Drug Enforcement, and jointly co-authored with John B. Haseman, Prospects for Controlling Narcotics Production and Trafficking in Myanmar, Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs.
Wen Hua Chen earned a B.A. in Chinese literature from Tunghai University, Taiwan and an M.A. in oriental history at Hiroshima University, Japan. Chen also studied at Taiwan’s prestigious Academia Sinica. In 1975, he began a career with the United Nations as a Chinese translator, subsequently working in both Bangkok, Thailand, and at UN Headquarters in New York. He retired in 2000 and has been pursuing various writing projects, publishing several works in Chinese language periodicals in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom. He is the author of Khun Sa, Legend in the Golden Triangle (Kunsa-chin-san-chiao-chuan-chi) which was published in Chinese in 1996.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Two Young Chinese Soldiers
Chapter 1: Retreat from Yunnan Facing Defeat (2), The Kunming Incident (5), The Road to Burma (9)
Chapter 2: Refuge in Burma’s Shan State A Troubled Union of Burma (17), Kengtung State –Backwater Flashpoint (20)
Chapter 3: Sorting Things Out at Tachilek Battle of Tachilek (26), The Americans Reluctantly Get Involved (30)
Chapter 4: Lieutenant General Li Mi Initiates His Enterprise (39), Seeking American Help (43), Li Mi Wins Command and Moves to Bangkok (44), Thai Friends (47), Finding Troops and Weapons (49)
Chapter 5: Building a KMT Stronghold in Burma Möng Hsat (55), Some Perspective in Retrospect (57)
Chapter 6: American Cold Warriors Civil Air Transport, the CIA’s Airline (62), The CIA in Thailand (64)
Chapter 7: Li Mi Builds the Yunnan National Salvation Army Thai and American Help (69), Initial Weapons Deliveries (74) Rallying Troops at Möng Hsat (75), Li Mi’s Army of Questionable Allies (77)
Chapter 8: Preparing to Invade Yunnan The Operations Plan (81), Moving to the Frontier (83), Mustering Newcomers (84), An Open Secret (86), Washington Rebuffs Rangoon (88)
Chapter 9: Debacle in Yunnan, May-July 1951 Americans Deliver the Goods (90), Action on the Flanks (91), The Airfield at Mengsa (93), The PLA Counterattacks (96), The Southern Column (99), Back in Burma (100)
Chapter 10: Washington Opts Out London Gets the Goods on Washington (105), Washington Decides to Cut its Losses (108), UK-US Joint Démarche Fiasco (110), More Failed Diplomacy (113)
Chapter 11: Li Mi’s Army Takes Root in Burma Yunnan Anticommunist University (116), Taiwan to Möng Hsat Air Bridge (118), Allying With Burma’s Karens (121), Li Mi’s International Press (123), Stirrings at the United Nations (126)
Chapter 12: Opium: Mother’s Milk for the KMT Governments as Opium Traders (132), The KMT’s Opium Business (134), Thai Opium Laws and Practices (137), Opium, KMT, and the Thai Police (139) Chapter 13: Washington Decides to Remove the KMT Backing Away from Li Mi (144), Li Mi and the US Defense Department (147), Pressuring Chiang Kai-shek (148)
Chapter 14: Southern Strategy and Karen Allies KMT - KNDO Cooperation (153), Increased KMT Aggressiveness (155), The SS Haitien Debacle (157), What Went Wrong? (159)
Chapter 15: The Road to United Nations Action Operation Maha and the Battle of W?n Hsa-la (163), Washington Pressures Taipei (165), Rangoon Goes to the United Nations (168)
Chapter 16: The United Nations vs. KMT Duplicity An Intransigent Li Mi (173), Operation Heaven (174), The Joint Military Committee Stalls (177), Burma Quits the Joint Military Committee (180)
Chapter 17: First Evacuation from Burma Evacuation Phase I (186), Evacuation Phase II (189), Burmese Offensive of 1954 (193), Evacuation Phase III (194), Ending the Evacuation (195)
Chapter 18: Liu Yuan-lin and the Yunnan Anticommunist Volunteer Army Reconsidering Thai Support for the KMT (200), Burma’s Yangyiaung Offensive (202), Liu Yuan-lin and Taiwan’s Intelligence Services (203), Liu Yuan-lin Organizes His Army (206) A KMT-Burma Army Truce (208), Tang-or Headquarters (211), Changes in Bangkok Affect the KMT (214)
Chapter 19: A Resurgent KMT Invites PRC Intervention Strengthening Liu Yuan-lin’s Army (221), An Ineffectual KMT Party 2nd Section (223), KMT-Lao Cooperation (224), Settling the Yunnan-Burma Border (228)
Chapter 20: Operation Mekong: Sino-Burmese Forces Route the KMT Sino-Burmese Planning (230), Initial PLA Operations (232), Liu Yuan-lin Regroups (234), Laos and KMT Aerial Supply Lines (235), Burmese Operations (238), The PLA Re-enter the Fight (240)
Chapter 21: Air Battle Over Burma and American Weapons The KMT’s American Weapons (246), Rangoon Protests –Washington Whitewashes (248)
Chapter 22: The Second KMT Evacuation Taipei-Vientiane Cooperation in Laos (252), Chiang Kai-shek Backs Down (254), Withdrawing Taipei’s Troops (257)
Chapter 23: Getting YAVA’s Remnants Out of Laos Vientiane Recruits the KMT (264), Stranded KMT Remnants in Laos (269), The KMT Finally Leave Laos (270)
Chapter 24: Nationalist Chinese Armies in Thailand Li Wen-huan’s Third Army (274), Tuan Hsi-wen’s Fifth Army (276), An Early Resettlement Effort (278), The KMT Fend for Themselves (281), Taipei’s Intelligence Units (283)
Chapter 25: Thailand’s Troublesome Guests Moving the KMT off the Lao Border (290), Thailand’s Troubled Borders (291), The 1967 Opium War ( 292), What to Do With the KMT in Thailand (297)
Chapter 26: Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense Ma Chün-kuo’s Interim IBMND Presence (303), IBMND Zone 1920 Takes Shape (305), A More Aggressive Zone 1920 (309)
Chapter 27: Taipei’s IBMND and Narcotics Trafficking IBMND Zone 1920 Trafficking (315), Shuttering the KMT Party 2nd Section (317), Disbanding IBMND Zone 1920 (318)
Chapter 28: Resettlement in Thailand Negotiating Resettlement (323), Securing New Settlements (327), Opium for Resettlement (330)
Chapter 29: Soldiering on for Thailand Guarding the Roads (339), A Last Hurrah at Khao Ya (340)
Chapter 30: Post Script
Bibliography