China has 597 investment projects in Myanmar totaling US$ 21.863 billion in value, junta investment and foreign economic relations minister Dr. Kan Zaw told the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Economic Corridor Governors Forum held in China’s Kunming last week.
Chinese investment accounts for 23.5 percent of total foreign investment in Myanmar, the majority of which is in the electricity sector, the minister added.
Despite international condemnation, sanctions and corporate pullouts following the 2021 coup, China appears to be stepping up its engagement with Myanmar’s ruling generals.
Kan Zaw, junta information minister Maung Maung Ohn and commerce minister Aung Naing Oo last week flew to Kunming in search of investment at three international events, the 7th China-South Asia Expo, 27th Import-Export Fair, and Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Corridor Governors Forum.
In an interview with China state-owned media CGTN during their visit, Aung Naing Oo claimed some countries are deliberately acting to mar the image of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Myanmar.
Although Myanmar is engulfed in the flames of armed conflict, Beijing is busy expanding investment in the country beyond its existing oil and gas pipelines; a deep-sea port in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu; tin, copper and rare earth mining; electricity production; and border trade.
Beijing is building a railway linking Kyaukphyu with the key border town of Muse in Shan State via Myanmar’s second largest city, Mandalay. The railroad is part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, which is itself a part of the BRI.
The junta’s foreign ministry reported in February that China is funding 92 projects worth US$ 27.4 million in Myanmar through the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Special Fund.
In early March, the regime and Beijing signed an agreement to implement three wind-power projects in Rakhine. The junta’s electricity minister then flew to Yunnan Province in the third week of March and invited the provincial government and Chinese businesspeople to invest in Myanmar’s electricity sector.
In April, Wang Ning, a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) central committee and secretary of the CPC Yunnan provincial committee, met Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw, signing agreements on rice, agricultural produce and fertilizer trade, and power purchase.
The regime is increasingly reliant on China for electricity production as blackouts have worsened since the coup.
Min Aung Hlaing has told his cabinet that the country’s disrupted power supply presents a challenge to his regime. The junta leader admitted that current production is insufficient to meet even 50 percent of domestic demand.
He also blamed the blackouts on the suspension of mega electricity projects, including the China-backed Myitsone Dam, by the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government that he ousted.
Anti-Chinese sentiment is running high in Myanmar as Beijing has repeatedly supported the regime on the global stage while also selling it weapons worth of millions of dollars to use in the brutal crackdown on opponents of military rule.
In May, then Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang visited Myanmar and vowed to stand by the junta in the global arena. His trip was followed by anti-China protests and attacks on junta troops guarding oil and gas pipelines.
On August 20, locals protested against Chinese mining company Wanbao and and a military-owned chemical factory for allowing junta soldiers to use their compounds in Sagaing Region’s Salingyi Township as bases for deadly attacks on surrounding villages and arbitrary arrests of civilians.
