Myanmar’s junta is racing to assure Chinese officials that it can ensure security on the border and elsewhere in the country since the Arakan Army encircled the site of a US$ 8 billion investment project in Rakhine State considered to be the pearl of economic cooperation between Naypyitaw and Beijing.
The deep-sea port and special economic zone are to be developed on an island off the coast of Rakhine State. The Arakan Army (AA), the armed wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA), is fighting to drive junta troops out of the state. Last month it seized a town near the port.
On March 25, the ULA asserted that it was the government of the state in a statement released in three languages – Burmese, Chinese and English – and invited foreign investors in Rakhine State to work with its Arakkha People Revolutionary Government to ensure their investment projects proceed smoothly.
The ULA welcomes all foreign investment “that we deem to benefit Arakan and its development,” it said. It also vowed to ensure the security of foreign investment and the safety of personnel before inviting foreign investors to work with the ULA to “ensure the smooth continuation of their operations.”
The junta responded on Tuesday, saying junta boss Min Aung Hlaing on Monday met China’s Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Deng Xijun on Monday to discuss peace talks with ethnic armed groups for both border security and internal stability.
Both sides also discussed Chinese assistance to the peace process, bilateral cooperation for drug prevention and the elimination of online gambling and fraud, border trade, and pollical developments in Myanmar.
Junta Foreign Affair Minister Than Swe and National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee Chairman Lieutenant General Tun Tun Naung also attended Monday’s meeting, while China’s envoy was accompanied by officials from its embassy in Myanmar.
The Kyaukphyu deep sea port is being developed by the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone Deep Seaport Co Ltd, a joint venture between a Myanmar subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned CITIC – Myanmar Port Investment Co Ltd – and the junta-backed Kyaukphyu SEZ Management Committee.
It is being built in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township and is key to the 1,700-kilometer China-Myanmar Economic Corridor connecting Yunnan province to the Indian Ocean. It is also part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The junta has been fortifying Kyaukphyu Township for several months.
Although they have yet to be attacked by AA troops, junta bases in Kyauphyu have indiscriminately shelled villages and restricted the movement of residents of the township, according to Rakhine media reports.
The Kyaukphyu port is also the start of 973-km Chinese oil-and-gas pipelines running from the Rakhine coast to southern China.
In the second week of March, the AA took complete control of Ramree town on the island of the same name where Kyaukphyu is also located.
While retreating from nearby Ma-ei town in Taungup Township to Kyaukphyu Township on Feb. 16, a junta battalion blew up the main bridge on the Ma-ei-Kyaukphyu Road, destroying the only land route to Kyaukphyu from the mainland.
Junta personnel and troops can only reach Kyaukphyu by air and sea now.
Three days after the March 25 statement by the ULA, China’s Ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai met junta Foreign Affairs Minister Than Swe and officials from the National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee in Naypyitaw. They discussed management of border crossings, the maintenance of peace and stability along the border, bilateral relations and accelerating cooperation and collaboration.
The Arakan Army has captured about 170 junta positions, including several battalion headquarters and military command centers across Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in southern Chin State, since launching a large-scale offensive on Nov. 13 last year.
It has seized all of Paletwa Township in southern Chin State, six of Rakhine State’s 17 townships and three other towns in townships it does not yet control. AA troops have also encircled Sittwe, Rakhine State’s capital, and now control land access to it.
The Arkan Army is now attacking Ann town in Ann Township where the junta’s West Region Military Command is based.
On Tuesday, it announced that it had blocked the Ann-Padan section of the Ann-Minbu Highway, one of the main entrance routes to Rakhine State from Magwe Region.