The Secret Army

📖 The Scoop

The incredible story of how Chiang Kai-shek's defeated army came to dominate the Asian drug trade

After their defeat in China's civil war, remnants of Chiang Kai-shek's armies took refuge in Burma before being driven into Thailand and Laos. Based on recently declassified government documents, The Secret Army: Chiang Kai-shek and the Drug Warlords of the Golden Triangle reveals the shocking true story of what happened after the Chinese Nationalists lost the revolution. Supported by Taiwan, the CIA, and the Thai government, this former army reinvented itself as an anti-communist mercenary force, fighting into the 1980s, before eventually becoming the drug lords who made the Golden Triangle a household name.

Offering a previously unseen look inside the post-war workings of the Kuomintang army, historians Richard Gibson and Wen-hua Chen explore how this fallen military group dominated the drug trade in Southeast Asia for more than three decades.

• Based on recently released, previously classified government documents
• Draws on interviews with active participants, as well as a variety of Chinese, Thai, and Burmese written sources
• Includes unique insights drawn from author Richard Gibson's personal experiences with anti-narcotics trafficking efforts in the Golden Triangle

A fascinating look at an untold piece of Chinese—and drug-running—history, The Secret Army offers a revealing look into the history of one of the most infamous drug cartels in Asia.

Genre: History / Asia / China (fancy, right?)