Three banks in Yunnan Province, China froze the bank accounts of over 100 Myanmar companies engaged in border trade last week over possible links to illegal internet gambling and smuggling, prompting swift action from the Union Minister for Commerce to try and reopen the accounts, according to officials in China and Myanmar. The frozen accounts […]
Hiatus in timber smuggling from Myanmar to China
March 16, 2016 by
Monitoring of key crossing points along the Myanmar-China border by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals a sharp downturn in the volume of illegal timber being smuggled between the two countries during the past six months. In September 2015, EIA released the report Organised Chaos, which documented surging illicit trade in logs via the land […]
Coal power central to gov’t energy plans
February 16, 2016 by
Myanmar’s energy sector will require investment of between US$30 billion and $40 billion over the next 15 to 20 years, and should focus on coal power, according to the government’s Energy Master Plan, published last month. Domestic energy consumption is forecast to almost double to 21.9 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe) in 2030 from […]
China’s Myanmar Conundrum
April 29, 2015 by
Myanmar’s political transition has spawned debates and deliberations in policymaking circles and strategic communities across the world. The economic and strategic spinoff of the political changes has generated immense attention and interest. Not least in China. As recently as 2011, prior to its “opening up,” Myanmar was not only considered cut off from international engagement, […]
The Impact of Energy on China/Myanmar Relations
April 20, 2015 by
China and Myanmar have had a mixed post-war relationship, ranging from warm to hostile, with Burma being the first non-communist country to recognize the PRC in 1949, then expelling much of its Chinese population following anti-Chinese riots in the 1960s. Since the repression of pro-democracy riots in 1988, Myanmar has generally sought a closer relationship […]
Myanmar needs more infrastructure
March 19, 2015 by
MUSE, Myanmar — Towering apartment blocks are going up on the northern bank of the Shweli River in the border town of Ruili, in China’s Yunnan Province. On the opposite river bank, in Myanmar’s Shan State, the ground is being prepared for something similar in Muse. In the late 1930s, the ancient trade and migration […]
Criticism dogs Myanmar Rice Federation’s China choices
March 19, 2015 by
The Myanmar Rice Federation’s choice of companies that will be registered for legal exports to China is receiving criticism from small-scale players as well as large businesses. Some of the country’s largest exporters were left off last month’s list of nine companies that would be permitted to handle the rice trade, while several of the […]
China won’t interfere in Myanmar’s domestic affairs
February 24, 2015 by
China debates bridging Silk Road blueprint with India’s “Look East” policy in Myanmar China has assured Myanmar that it will not interfere in its domestic affairs, despite a cross-border surge in the Yunnan province of refugees, who are escaping fighting following a military offensive in northern Myanmar. Heavy fighting between the Myanmar army and Kokang […]
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