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.