[1] Mawkmai state was founded in 1767 by Hsai Khiao, hailing from a noble family of the city of Chiang Mai.

[2] As a result of the Anglo-Siamese Boundary Commission of 1892-93 the Möngmaü and Mehsakun trans-Salween districts, claimed by Siam as territories located on the eastern side of the Salween River, were kept as part of Mawkmai state,[1] but Mae Hong Son district was ceded to Siam.

The defense of the Shan States had been left to the Nationalist Chinese forces, upon the request of the British.

Following the existing agreement between Thai Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun) and the Japanese Empire, on 18 August 1943, the Japanese government agreed to the Thai annexation of Kengtung and part of Mongpan state (as well as the annexation of Kelantan, Trengganu, Kedah, Perlis states and nearby islands in Malaya.

However, the Thai government officially relinquished its claim over Mawkmai State only in 1946 as part of the condition for admission to the United Nations and the withdrawal of all wartime sanctions for having sided with the Axis powers.