Posts tagged Myitsone dam

Myitsone spirits

By Martin Saxer | March 30, 2012

Qin Hui, professor of history at Tsinghua University, has written a three-part series on the suspended Myitsone dam for The Economic Observer. A revised version of the text is now accessible at chinadialogue. Qin argues that while ecological problems are usually foregrounded in the opposition against the dam, the real reason for the fierce and widespread opposition lies elsewhere:

Everywhere in Kachin, you see photos or paintings of Myitsone, the confluence of the Mail and N’Mai rivers and source of the Irrawaddy. The iconic image is visible in any public space and is a familiar sight even in non-Kachin areas (a “Myitsone Restaurant” near the Chinese embassy in Yangon is adorned with the image). It seems that Myitsone is to this region what Mount Fuji is to Japan or Mount Kumgang to North Korea: an emblem of the nation.
Why is this place so significant? Kachin legend has it that Father Dragon and his two sons, Hkrai Nawng and Hkrai Gam, were born here. Locals believe that, if the mountains are damaged, the dragons will awaken and bring disaster. Of course, many people don’t believe this, but the point is the Kachin do – and this is their land isn’t it?

In the third part, the author concludes:

I left Kachin state with two clear impressions. First, the people who cooperated most closely with China in the past (former Burmese Communist Party members, for example) are the fiercest critics of China today. They commonly feel that China cannot be trusted and that the Kachin should seek western support.

This is a very informative piece. Highly recommended.

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Burma Army Tells Locals to Leave Myitsone Area

By Martin Saxer | March 23, 2012

Saw Yan Naing for the Irrawaddy:

Burmese authorities have told hundreds of villagers living near the site of the suspended Myitsone hydropower dam project in Kachin State to leave the area within 10 days or face the consequences, according to a local group monitoring the project.

These are resettled people who came back to their original villages after Myanmar’s president Thein Sein put the dam project on hold last September. China Power Investment (CPI) and Asia World, its Burmese partner, still have good friends in high places, it seems. And they have clearly not given up.

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Rebels, Resources, Religion

By Martin Saxer | February 3, 2012

It is sometimes difficult to follow and make sense of the events in the conflict between the Kachin army and government troops in northern Burma. The Democratic Voice of Burma reports that

Burmese soldiers have been withdrawn from conflict zones in Kachin state as both sides push for ceasefire talks, but reports from nearby Shan state suggest extra battalions have been deployed to guard the lucrative China-backed Shwe pipeline.

After the decision to halt construction of the Mytsone dam, the Shwe oil and gas pipelines is the most important piece of Chinese investment in Burma. The two pipelines are currently under construction and the first gas is expected to flow in April 2013. According to the report, the project will eventually account for around 6 percent of China’s total energy needs.
ChinaAID, a US-based Christian NGO, reports that around 40,000 refugees from the conflict zone have crossed the border to Yunnan. The NGO cites a pastor:

For many years, Burmese Christians who do business and have relatives in Yingjiang have regularly attended our church services.  And brothers and sisters here also frequently travel to Burma to visit relatives and friends. In fact, we and they are as close as flesh and blood.

ChinaAID calls out to “to brothers and sisters in China and overseas” for prayers and financial assistance.
At the same time, the Yunnan International Power Investment Co. invests in a new church, as Pal Nyiri notes in his blog:

Yunnan International Power Investment Co., a daughter of China State Grid, inaugurated a Baptist church at the resettlement village built for villagers resettled from the site of the now-suspended Myitsone Dam. Does that mean that those already resettled will stay where they are?

Rebels, (Christian) religion, and (energy) resources – an all important triangle.

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Zhu Feng: China’s Trouble with the Neighbors

By Martin Saxer | November 1, 2011

A month ago, President of Myanmar Thein Sein pulled the plug on the contested Myitsone dam project in Northern Burma. The unexpected decision was widely applauded around the globe but left Chinese investors baffled. A few days later, 13 Chinese sailors were killed in an attack on two cargo ships on the Mekong river.

Yesterday, Zhu Feng (Deputy Director of the Center for International & Strategic Studies at Peking University) wrote a commentary for Project Syndicate, in which he takes the two events as indication of a general trend:

The Myitsone and Mekong episodes highlight China’s suddenly edgy relations with its southern neighbors. Its good-neighbor policy, it turns out, has steered China’s regional diplomacy into uncharted waters.

Indeed, China’s neighbors will not be reliably good to Chinese interests unless and until China begins to provide essential public goods –not just commerce, but also full-fledged regional governance based on the rule of law, respect for human rights, and regional economic growth. Otherwise, ruptures such as those at Myitsone and along the Mekong will recur, deepening China’s sense of isolation and panic.

The circumstances of the Mekong incident are not fully clear yet (Thai soldiers working on behalf of local businessmen?) and neither is the reasoning behind the Burmese government’s decision to suspend construction on the dam (read, for example, Nicholas Farrelly’s New Mandala post on the ongoing conflict in northern Burma and the role of the dam). Thus, I am not sure whether the two episodes sufficiently support Zhu’s conclusion. However, Zhu’s analysis of China’s strategic engagement in neighbouring countries and the risks Chinese companies are willing to take is interesting:

The dam’s Chinese investors, for their part, relied too heavily on the depth of the two countries’ bilateral ties, and so heavily discounted the project’s political risks. Their behavior also reflects the implied guarantee of official government mercantilism, as well as the complacency of China’s state-owned enterprises, which account for most Chinese overseas investment. Operating on the assumption that the government will back them – or bail them out if they fail – they can afford to be cavalier.

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