As Myanmar prepares for yet another round of peace talks with ethnic armed groups, all eyes are on China. With all the Western outfits involved in Myanmar’s peace process effectively sidelined, China has emerged as the only outside force that matters due to its substantial leverage over both insurgents and the government. Unlike Western interlocutors, […]
Reducing Conflicts Between Hydropower And Fish Can Lower Investment Risk
Fish commute, just like many of us do. And when the route of commuting fish — migrating sometimes hundreds of miles up a river to spawn — runs into a hydropower project, that can spell trouble. For people, not just fish. Especially if the fish provide the greatest source of protein for your country’s population, […]
The wily ways of a Myanmar-China border town
One of many towns of the Myanmar-China border, Bhamo, Myanmar has long been a hub for illegal trade with China, including illegally logged charcoal currently sold. Most of the charcoal is bound overland for brisk business with China, yet Bhamo still finds itself without enough money coming in. Bhamo has a long history of diversifying […]
Myanmar eyes China’s trade plan for much-needed infrastructure, as crisis in Rakhine goes on
Minister for Construction U Win Khaing told the Asean and Asia Forum in Singapore on Thursday that his country needed to improve its infrastructure quickly to cope with the mass internal migration to its cities. The government had been in contact with various potential partners, including China and Japan, promoting Myanmar as a hub to […]
The Replanting of Mangrove Trees Along Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River is Set to Receive a Boost Next month with The Help of Drones Developed by UK firm BioCarbon Engineering.
The drones are ten times faster at planting trees than humans are, and due to this efficiency, can cut costs in half. The aim is to restore degraded mangroves, which, due to excessive wood cutting for fuel, agricultural expansion and the construction of fish and shrimp ponds, are disappearing three times faster than rainforests. Only 16 per cent […]
Ruili — China’s gateway to Myanmar
The Jiegao border area is located in Ruili, a frontier city in China’s Yunnan province. Geographically, Yunnan occupies a unique position. Shortly after day break, under the cover of heavy monsoon clouds, the Jiegao border trading area — a medium-sized 2 sq. km. complex — appears desolate. In the half-light of the early hours, long-haul […]
Chinese factory in Myanmar ransacked by hundreds of angry workers
Hundreds of workers in Myanmar attacked a Chinese garment factory in Yangon, destroying equipment and briefly detaining seven Chinese workers on Thursday, the official China News Service reported. The attack on the factory was carried out by staff angered by the sacking of a colleague, according to a local newspaper report. The seven Chinese “captives” […]