Golden triangle (asia)
The Golden Triangle is a region on the border between Laos , Thailand and Myanmar , where the opium poppy ( Papaver somniferum ) is grown and processed into heroin . The importance of the Golden Triangle as a supplier for the global heroin market has noticeably decreased due to drug production in Afghanistan .
Geographically, the Golden Triangle is where the Ruak River flows into the Mekong .
term
The Golden Triangle is a synonym for opium or heroin production and drug trafficking in Southeast Asia . The term dates back to 1971. On the one hand, it goes back to the geometric shape of the triangle-forming countries Myanmar , Thailand , Vietnam and Laos , and on the other, probably to the gold with which Chinese traders initially paid for opium.
The Golden Crescent with the center Afghanistan is the Central Asian counterpart of the Golden Triangle and currently the more important of the two opium-producing areas.
location
The location and size of the Golden Triangle are described very differently, which may mainly be due to the fact that opium poppy cultivation cannot be assigned any fixed spatial or temporal limits. There is agreement that the core is formed by the triangle Thailand / Myanmar / Laos.
While the Thai tourism industry is the confluence ( 20 ° 21 ′ 20 ″ N , 100 ° 4 ′ 53 ″ E ) of the Ruak in the Mekong near the village of Sop Ruak ( Amphoe Chiang Saen ) marketed as the Golden Triangle, according to other sources, the Golden Triangle covers a much larger area, which, in addition to northern Thailand and Laos and eastern Myanmar ( Shan State ), often also includes the southern Chinese border area with Myanmar and Laos ( Xishuangbanna , Yunnan Province ) and even the northwest of Vietnam .
This area is predominantly populated by Tibetan , Hmong-Mien , Mon-Khmer and Tai-speaking ethnic groups, who differ significantly in their lifestyle from the majority population of the respective states and sometimes as " mountain peoples " (or in Laos as Lao Soung or Lao Theung ). The American political scientist and anthropologist James C. Scott counts this region to Zomia , which he uses to describe the highlands of Southeast Asia, which have a very high ethnic and linguistic diversity and whose inhabitants have long escaped the control of the surrounding states.
Opium poppy cultivation
The cultivation of opium poppies in the Golden Triangle goes back to the immigration of different ethnic groups from China . It has a long tradition among several ethnic groups in this region. Older people in particular smoke opium as a socially accepted stimulant. The Hmong have always produced opium for trade, initially only for the Chinese market. Later, during their colonial rule in Indochina , the French bought the Hmong opium in large quantities.
After the victory of the communists under Mao Zedong over the Kuomintang , many Chinese came to the neighboring countries, including an entire Kuomintang regiment in the Thai-Burmese border area around today's Mae Salong , who continued to stimulate the drug trade in search of income.
Southeast Asia's role as an opium producer increased further with the suppression of poppy cultivation in China and Iran in the 1950s (see e.g. Operation X of the GCMA ).
The Golden Triangle gained its notorious reputation as a stronghold of opium and heroin production during the Vietnam War , when on the one hand the sales market for narcotic drugs skyrocketed and on the other hand, funds from drug trafficking by the CIA to finance allied armies, e.g. B. Hmong Army in Laos. The production of intoxicants continued to rise even after the end of the Vietnam War until the end of the 1980s (see e.g. Khun Sa ), a consequence of the increased demand in the West.
The governments of the states around the Golden Triangle are taking different approaches and with different degrees of severity against poppy cultivation. Cultivation is illegal in Thailand and the country has largely been able to contain it in its northern provinces. Tourism, which has opened up new sources of income for the mountain peoples ( trekking , handicrafts), and the targeted promotion of tea and coffee cultivation (e.g. in Mae Salong) have contributed to this. At the same time, the Thai north has been developed with new roads and airfields, which allows the police and military to have much better control over the area.
In the much poorer Laos in the north, you will meet locals with opium pipes much more often. However, the country is also trying to boost tourism and has some successes (e.g. Luang Prabang ). In hotels, wats, restaurants, trekking and tour agencies, foreign visitors will find tips on contact with the mountain peoples, which, in addition to various other rules of conduct, also encourage them to never smoke opium themselves, as the effect is particularly disastrous on local youth is.
These efforts by neighboring states thus resulted in Myanmar becoming the largest opium producer in the Golden Triangle.
See also
literature
- Ko-Lin Chin: The Golden Triangle. Inside Southeast Asia's drug trade . University Press, Ithaca, NY 2009, ISBN 978-0-8014-7521-4 .
- Christopher R. Cox: Chasing the Dragon. Into the heart of the Golden Triangle . Holt Publ., New York 1996, ISBN 0-8050-3863-9 .
- Paul & Elaine Lewis: Peoples of the Golden Triangle. Six tribes in Thailand . Thames & Hudson, London 1984, ISBN 0-500-97472-1 .
- Alfred W. McCoy : The CIA and Heroin. World politics through drug trafficking ("The politics of heroin"). Verlag Zweausendeins, Frankfurt / M. 2003, ISBN 3-86150-608-4 .
- Alfred W. McCoy, Alan A. Block (Eds.): War on Drugs. Studies in the Failure of US Narcotics Policy . Westview Press, Boulder, Col. 1992, ISBN 0-8133-8551-2 .
- Ronald R. Renard: The Burmese connection. Illegal drugs and the making of the Golden Triangle . Rienner Books, Boulder, Col. 1996, ISBN 1-55587-618-8 (Studies on the impact of the illegal drug trade; 6).
Web links
- Map 1: 250,000 (not accessible via the Geohack)
- Database of literature on the social, political and economic situation in the Golden Triangle (Asia)
- Drugs in Asia ( April 17, 2010 memento on the Internet Archive ) (in English and French)
- History of the Hmong in Laos ( Memento of December 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (Article - unfortunately without photos)
Individual evidence
- ↑ James C. Scott: The Art of Not Being Governed. An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. Yale University Press, 2009.