Wa State - Politics and Society

Politics and Society

Wa State is divided into northern and southern regions which are separated from one another, with the 13,000 square kilometre southern region bordering Thailand and consisting of 200,000 people. The total area of the region controlled by the Wa State is 17,000 square kilometres. Political leaders of the Wa State are mostly ethnic Va people. The government of the Wa State emulates many political features of the government of China, having a Central Committee and a central party known as the United Wa State Party. Whilst the Wa State is de facto highly autonomous from the control of the central Myanmar government, their relationship is based on peaceful coexistence and the Wa State recognises the sovereignty of the central government over all of Myanmar. Because the Wa language has no written language, the working language of the Wa State government is Chinese.

Television broadcasts within the Wa State are broadcasted in Standard Chinese. Commodities within the Wa State are brought over from China, and the Renminbi is used for exchanges. China Mobile has cellular coverage over some parts of the Wa State.