Chinese Investment in Myanmar: Beyond Myitsone Dam

THE I DIPLOMAT
By Ruosui Zhang
July 22, 2020

How national security concerns sealed the varying fates of Chinese investment projects in Myanmar.

Almost nine years have passed since the Thein Sein administration unilaterally announced the suspension of construction work on the Myitsone dam in September 2011. The building of the controversial hydroelectric dam is a gargantuan Chinese investment project in Myanmar, with an estimated total cost of $3.6 billion, and with a planned reservoir area larger than the size of Singapore. The suspension followed increasingly severe public protests in Myanmar expressing opposition to the Myitsone dam project. Naypyidaw credited the suspension decision to the “people’s will, and many analysts have thus attributed the unexpected suspension to the victory of popular anti-China sentiments and anti-dam movements, following Myanmar’s domestic political transition. If the “people’s will” really brought the Myitsone dam project to a halt, might other Chinese overseas projects be at risk of a similar fate?

US wants to make big investment in Bangladesh

The Daily Star 

November 06, 2019 
Diplomatic Correspondent

The US wants to make big investments in Bangladesh -- in infrastructure, energy, as well as in strengthening Bangladesh’s institutions to improve governance -- under the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS).

“We discussed how we can improve foreign direct investments and expand American business in Bangladesh and help the country develop its ambitious goals. That was a significant part of the conversation,” said US Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells.

Chinese Investment in Myanmar's Rakhine State Questioned

VOA

April 27, 2019
Libby Hogan 

Myanmar's defacto leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is welcoming businesses to invest in Rakhine State, more than a year and a half since a brutal military crackdown forced hundreds of thousands of minority Rohingya Muslims to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. Despite the push for investment, many residents in Rakhine State worry they will not see any of the benefits. Libby Hogan has this report from Kyaukpyu Beach in Rakhine State. 

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