Word: li
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...weak Burmese government, which has never controlled its borders since the British Raj departed, Li's lawless veterans are "foreign bandits" who defy its writ, pillage its merchants and give the Chinese Communists an ever-ready excuse for threatening invasion. Last month, in a burst of near unanimity, the U.N. General Assembly condemned Li Mi and advised his guerrillas to get out or be interned. Li Mi refused, and in so doing defied the world. Last week, in Formosa where he is recuperating from a heart attack, he told TIME Correspondent John Meeklin his side of the story...
Willing Volunteers. "We have been condemned without a trial," said Li. "Why should not the U.N. first have sent somebody to investigate what we are doing instead of simply ordering...
...Li's version of the National Salvation Army's activities begins in spring 1950, when he salvaged some 2,000 stragglers from the wreck of the Nationalist Thirteenth Army Group and withdrew his demoralized troops to the Shan mountains on the Burma side of the border. In May 1951 Li attacked Red Yunnan with several thousand recruits gleaned from the borderlands, occupied eight hsien (Chinese counties), and appealed for volunteers. "Every able-bodied man in the district" stepped forward, he says; the National Salvation Army increased...
Then came defeat. Communist regulars counterattacked, sent the Nationalists reeling back to their Burmese lairs. "It was bitterly pathetic," said Li. "Most of my men had no arms. Some sneaked back to their farms to wait for another chance, some took jobs on the Burmese government highway projects. Others were drowned when they tried to escape by swimming mountain torrents...
Since then, the Nationalists have managed to cling to a piece of Burmese real estate the size of West Virginia. One million primitive Burmans are now ruled by five Nationalist generals, loyal to Li Mi. The National Salvation Army, says its commander, has its headquarters on the forested plateau east of the Salween River, where the Burmese, Siamese and Indo-Chinese borders meet. It maintains an air strip, has reliable radio contacts with the government of Formosa...