Kuomintang in Burma

The Kuomintang in Burma, also known as the Thai-Burmese Lone Army (Chinese: 泰緬孤軍; pinyin: Tàimiǎn gū jūn; Wade–Giles: T‘ai⁴-mien³ ku¹ chün¹) or Kuomintang in the Golden Triangle, which was officially known as the Yunnan Anti-Communist National Salvation Army (Chinese: 雲南反共救國軍; pinyin: Yúnnán fǎngòng jìuguó jūn; Wade–Giles: Yün²-nan³ Fan³-kung⁴ Chiu⁴-kuo² Chün¹) were troops of the Republic of China Army loyal to the Kuomintang (KMT) that fled from China to Burma in 1950 after their defeat by the Chinese communists in the Chinese Civil War. They were commanded by Lieutenant-General Li Mi and, over the course of their existence, attempted several incursions into Yunnan in the early 1950s, only to be pushed back into Burma each time by the People's Liberation Army.

The entire campaign, with logistical support from the Republic of China which had retreated to Taiwan, the United States, and Thailand, was controversial from the start, as it weakened Burmese sovereignty and introduced the KMT's involvement in the region's lucrative opium trade. In 1953, the frustrated Burmese government appealed to the United Nations and put international pressure on the Republic of China to withdraw its troops to Taiwan the following year. As a result, the United States initiated a Four-Nation Military Commission (Burma, the United States, the Republic of China, and Thailand) to negotiate the KMT withdrawal. On 30 May 1954, General Li Mi announced the dissolution of the Yunnan Province Anti-Communist National Rescue Army. However, 6,000 irregular KMT troops remained in Burma. Fighting continued sporadically from the irregular troops until coordinated military operations from 1960 to 1961 between the PRC and Burmese governments expelled the remaining irregular KMT troops from Burma. Though most were evacuated to Taiwan, some remained in Burma or formed communities in Thailand.