People's Liberation Army (Myanmar)
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The People's Liberation Army (
abbr. An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing perio ...
PLA; ) is a
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
rebel group in
Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
. It is the armed wing of the underground
Communist Party of Burma The Communist Party of Burma (CPB), also known as the Burma Communist Party (BCP), is an underground communist party in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is the oldest existing political party in the country. Founded in 1939, the CPB initially fo ...
, whose cadres rearmed themselves after the
Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...
(Myanmar military) overthrew the civilian government in 2021. "People's Liberation Army" was also the name of the Communist Party of Burma's first armed wing, which was named after the
People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...
of China.


History


Predecessors

The
Communist Party of Burma The Communist Party of Burma (CPB), also known as the Burma Communist Party (BCP), is an underground communist party in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is the oldest existing political party in the country. Founded in 1939, the CPB initially fo ...
(CPB) waged an insurgency, primarily in
Shan State Shan State (, ; , ) is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos (Louang Namtha Province, Louang Namtha and Bokeo Provinces) to the east, and Thailand (Chiang Rai Province, Chia ...
, from 1948 to 1989. At the beginning, the party's armed wing was named the People's Liberation Army (PLA),
homonymous In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either; ''homographs''—words that mean different things, but have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation), or ''homophones''—words that mean different things, but have the same pronunciatio ...
with the
People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...
of China founded around the same time. In September 1950, the PLA merged with regiments of the Revolutionary Burma Army commanded by the communist Bo Zeya, and formed the People's Army. The People's Army was disbanded after a 1989 mutiny which forced the CPB's leaders into exile in China. The
MNDAA , logo = , caption = Official logo of the MNDA (rendered online) , active = – present , leader = Pheung Daxun , ideology = Kokang Nationalism Xi Jinping Thought , partof = ...
and
United Wa State Army The United Wa State Army ( Parauk: , zh, s=佤邦联合军, t=佤邦聯合軍, p=Wǎbāng Liánhéjūn; , ), abbreviated as the UWSA or the UWS Army, is the military wing of the United Wa State Party (UWSP), the ''de facto'' ruling party of ...
formed from these splits.


2021 refoundation

The Tatmadaw deposed the democratically elected members of Myanmar's civilian government in a coup d'état on 1 February 2021, and established a junta named the
State Administration Council The State Administration Council (; abbreviated SAC or နစက) is the military junta currently governing Myanmar, established by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, February 2021 c ...
(SAC). The CPB subsequently released a statement on the same day, condemning the coup and calling for a united front against the Tatmadaw. CPB cadres reentered Myanmar through the country's border with China in March 2021. Five months later in August 2021, the CPB announced that it had rearmed itself and established a new armed wing to wage a
people's war People's war or protracted people's war is a Maoist military strategy. First developed by the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the basic concept behind people's war is to maintain the support of the population ...
against the SAC. The party chose the PLA name as a call back to their previous armed resistance. The
Kachin Independence Army The Kachin Independence Army (KIA; Kachin: ''Wunpawng Mungdan Shanglawt Hpyen Dap''; ) is a non-state armed group and the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in Northern Myanmar ...
(KIA) provided the PLA troops with their initial supply of weapons and equipment. The PLA claimed in 2023 to have an active force of 1,000 troops. At that time, it was fighting alongside the People's Defence Force in
Tanintharyi Region Tanintharyi Region (, ; Mon: or ; formerly Tenasserim Division and Tanintharyi Division) is a region of Myanmar, covering the long narrow southern part of the country on the northern Malay Peninsula, reaching to the Kra Isthmus. It borders ...
. From July to September 2024, the PLA allowed 138 elephants and their human handlers to take refuge in its camp near
Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553. Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...
. The handlers had fled from junta-run timber camps, where the elephants were used to transport logs through dense jungle. The PLA stated that it intended to protect the elephants from traffickers and the handlers from the Tatmadaw until the junta is overthrown. In a 2025 interview with the
Democratic Voice of Burma The Democratic Voice of Burma (, abbreviated DVB) is one of Myanmar's largest independent media organisations. DVB was founded as a non-profit media organization based in Oslo, Norway and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Run by Burmese expatriates, it m ...
, PLA general secretary Ni Ni Kyaw stated that the PLA was reconstituted to "eliminate fascists nd themilitary dictatorship, and to liberate all groups of Myanmar people from oppression". She noted that the PLA was fighting in numerous areas, including northern Shan State and the Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway and Tanintharyi regions. On June 10 2025, the armed forces of the Burmese Communist Party shot down a junta fighter jet during the battle for Kan Dauk police station in Pale Township, Sagaing Region. The 10th, such shooting down since 2021. By June 19, the Communists had taken the village and pushed out junta forces.


Ideology

Like its mother party, the PLA adheres to
Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...
and
Mao Zedong Thought Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China and later the People's Re ...
. The PLA opposes ethnonationalism and separatism, arguing that Myanmar should be united as a
federal state A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...
with autonomous regions reserved for the country's ethnic minorities.


References

{{Reflist 2021 establishments in Myanmar Communism in Myanmar Ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar Maoism in Asia Military wings of communist parties