them were Hui Muslims, like the insurgents in the northwest, but they did not coordinate their attacks with them. After losing mainland China, a group of approximately 12,000 KMT soldiers escaped to Burma and continued launching guerrilla attacks into southern China. Their leader, General Li Mi, was paid a salary by the ROC government and given the nominal title of Governor of Yunnan. After the Burmese government appealed to the United Nations in 1953, the U.S. began pressuring the ROC to withdraw its loyalists. By the end of 1954, nearly 6,000 soldiers had left Burma and Li Mi declared his army disbanded. However, thousands remained, and the ROC continued to supply and command them, even secretly supplying reinforcements at times. The Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of National Defence's Intelligence Bureau employed the pro-Kuomintang Yunnanese Muslim Maj. General Ma Chün-kuo to operate in Burma. General Ma became an important figure in the narcotics trade in the region. A guerrilla force led by him worked with General Li Mi's forces in Burma. Ma Shou-i, a Yunnanese Muslim mapang (militia) leader involved in smuggling and narcotics trafficking, assisted the Kuomintang forces under Li Mi with logistics, since the Communists adopted an anti narcotics policy. Forces under General Ma Chün-kuo conducted their first minor assault on Yunnan in April 1963, and various insignificant raids continued in the following years. General Ma himself admitted that they were not doing much. Most of General Ma's activities consisted of jade and opium smuggling, and not fighting, since there was only sporadic aid and few orders to do anything from Taiwan. Chinese Hui Muslim merchants in Burma and Thailand assisted the Kuomintang forces in the Burmese opium trade. Since the 1980s, thousands of Muslims from Myanmar and Thailand have migrated to Taiwan in search of a better life. They are descendants of nationalist soldiers that fled Yunnan when the communists took over mainland China. Tibet After the insurgency was finished off, the PLA used Hui soldiers who had served under Ma Bufang to crush the Tibetan revolt in Amdo. See also Chinese Civil War Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Northwestern China Campaign at the China–Burma Border Kuomintang in Burma References Chinese Civil War 1950s in China Islam in China Islamic insurgency Rebellions in China Military history of Gansu Military history of Qinghai History of Ningxia 20th century in Xinjiang Military history of Yunnan Islam and violence Wars