China is moving heavly into Burma
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:38 am
while most of the rest of the world shuns the country for investment.
Xi visits Myanmar to push Belt and Road plan
Xi’s first as president will aim to cement Beijing’s position as Myanmar’s largest investor and strategic partner
China’s President Xi Jinping arrives in Myanmar this week to nail down multi-billion-dollar infrastructure deals in a country abandoned by many in the West appalled at the “genocide” of Rohingya Muslims on leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s watch.
Xi’s two-day visit, his first as president, will seek to cement Beijing’s position as Myanmar’s largest investor and strategic partner.
The much-trumpeted China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) aims to connect the Middle Kingdom to the Indian Ocean, a key route in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative that envisions Chinese infrastructure and influence spanning the globe.
Undeterred, Myanmar has declared the area open for business. While Western investors have shunned the opportunity, China – competing against other regional giants – has few such qualms.
Billions of cubic meters of gas and millions of barrels of oil from offshore rigs are pumped each year across the country to China.
Beijing now wants to secure plans for a high-speed rail link between the port and China’s landlocked Yunnan province.
Other key projects include industrial zones on the shared border and a makeover for commercial hub Yangon.
https://www.asiatimes.com/2020/01/artic ... road-plan/