China Confiscates Pea Products From Northern Shan State
By Network Media Group
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Pea merchants hoping to sell their products in China have lost over 20,000 tons after Chinese border officials accused them of trying to enter the country illegally and seized their merchandise in the Chinese town of Wanding next to Muse in Burma.
“Actually, we exported these pea products through an official checkpoint at the China – Burma border and paid taxes to both the Chinese and Burmese government,” a seller told NMG on condition of anonymity. If China doesn’t want us to sell it to them, they should inform us, he said, explaining that he’s been in cross border business for more than a decade.
“Now our products are in a warehouse in Wanding.”
He said that he and other traders have lost over 100 million yuan after the seizures on 24 April. Chinese law officials have also detained some people and pressured sellers to sign a document stating their goods entered the country illegally.
Burmese border officials in northern Shan State have refused to meet with their Chinese counterparts to negotiate a solution until now.
Another Burmese trader said the problem is related to the Chinese changing border trade regulations without telling them.
“We have lost a lot of money!” he said.
“We have faced the kind of problem in the past,” commented another Burmese trader.
At the end of 2020, traders lost all of their money after the government closed hundreds of bank accounts in China.
