Myanmar responds to Thai threat

Myanmar responds to Thai threat

YANGON (AP): In a clear warning to Thailand, Myanmar said on Thursday its troops would join an ethnic army, accused of producing drugs, in defending its homeland from external attacks.

The remarks by Maj. Gen. Kyaw Win, deputy director of the military intelligence, are the latest salvo in a war of words between Myanmar and Thailand whose relations have sunk to their lowest point in years.

The main bone of contention is Thailand's accusations that the ethnic United Wa State Army is freely producing drugs in factories along the Thai border in Myanmar's eastern Shan state and smuggling them to Thailand.

It says Myanmar's military junta turns a blind eye to the activities of the Wa, which signed a cease-fire with the government in 1989 in exchange for virtual autonomy in the Wa area.