Bao Youxiang

Bao Youxiang , also known by his Wa name Tax Log Pang (Chinese Wa: ) and his Burmese name Pau Yu Chang , is the current president of Wa State people's government, general secretary of the United Wa State Party, and commander-in-chief of the United Wa State Army.

Early life Bao Youxiang was born in 1949 to a Wa chieftain in Kunma, a Wa village near Gawng Lang in northern Shan State. Bao was the second youngest of eight brothers in his family and did not go further than his village during his childhood. When Bao was 21, he joined and eventually led a Wa guerrilla group that smuggled opium across the China–Myanmar border. He has constantly urged the government of Myanmar to give more regional autonomy to ethnic minority groups in Myanmar, in exchange for permanent ceasefire and peace agreements with armed insurgent groups.