[3] In response, China temporarily suspended shipping on the Mekong, and reached an agreement with Myanmar, Thailand and Laos to jointly patrol the river.

"[10][11] After attempting several failed invasions of Yunnan, in 1953 the Burmese government made an appeal to the United Nations and many Kuomintang soldiers and their families were expelled and flown to Taiwan.

As a result, Burmese scholars such as Mya Maung have claimed that parts of northern Myanmar and the city of Mandalay have become effectively sinicized and blamed them for "moral decline", while ethnic Chinese have responded by dismissing the natives as lazy.

[13] According to the crew of a different boat who witnessed the attack, about eight gunmen stormed the Chinese cargo ships Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8 in the morning of 5 October 2011.

[3] Later during the day, Thai river police in the northernmost Chiang Rai Province recovered the ships after a gunfight, and found about 900,000 amphetamine pills worth more than US$3 million.

[14] According to the police chief of Chiang Rai Province, drug gangs demanded protection money from boats on the Mekong and sometimes hijacked them to transport illegal goods.

[3] After a long manhunt involving Chinese and Thai authorities, in late April 2012 Lao security forces captured Naw Kham in Bokeo Province[16] and extradited him to China in May.

[16] On 6 November 2012, China's Intermediate People's Court of Kunming in Yunnan province sentenced Naw Kham and three of his subordinates to death: one from Thailand, one from Laos and one that "Chinese state media referred to as stateless".

[3] In December 2011 China, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand began joint patrols on the Mekong after a security agreement was reached among the four countries, with more than 200 Chinese border police from Yunnan Province taking part.