BURMA CONCERNED OVER POSSIBLE WA LINKS TO LAO

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENTIANE 000091 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS-EMERY E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2020 TAGS: PREL KCRM SNAR BM LA SUBJECT: BURMA CONCERNED OVER POSSIBLE WA LINKS TO LAO CASINO Classified By: DCM PETER M. HAYMOND FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) and (d) ¶1. (C) On the margins of a February 19 law enforcement and coordination meeting, a Burmese diplomat volunteered to DCM that the Burmese Minister of Public Security will visit Laos the week of February 22-26. Primary focus of the Minister's visit will be a 1-2 day trip to a large casino in Bokeo province, the Lao portion of the Golden Triangle region, that opened in September 2009. Burma, said the diplomat, is concerned that the casino investment and profits are both linked to non-Burman ethnic groups within Burma. (Note: The casino, anchor of what the Lao press has reported is a USD 2 billion entertainment complex investment located next to a well-known Mekong River crossing point for drug traffickers, has been advertised as a Chinese venture. There are persistent rumors, however, that Wa interests act as a silent but significant partner. End note.) ¶2. (C) The Burmese diplomat also indicated his government's interest in learning more about the status of the 700 Burmese (almost certainly ethnic Shan) that reportedly work at the casino complex. he said that when he Asked about the visa status of these Burmese, the GOL told him that they work using 3-day border passes, an idea he found ludicrous. He noted that when the casino was under construction, boats bringing materials down the Mekong from China to the site were fired upon from the Burmese shore on several occasions. It was around the time that the Burmese were hired on for construction, he said, that these attacks stopped. ¶3. (C) Comment: Casino investments have recently been gaining favor with the GOL, despite lack of evidence for economic development benefit to Lao communities aside from a few hundred low level jobs at each location. Many observers have noted the potentially pernicious consequences here of combining a growing gaming industry, minimal experience with financial supervision, and a persistent drug trafficking problem. Perhaps Burma's understandable security concerns over possible use of Lao territory to finance arms for ethnic groups resistant to the GOB will prod the GOL into reexamining its casino policies. HUSO