So the Sino-Burmese relationship is going through a rough patch at the moment. President Thein Sein’s decision to suspend China’s Myitsone mega-dam project is the talk of the town. And we all now wait for the next installment in one of Asia’s most intriguing bilateral flirtations.
While I’m sure the timing is coincidental the Chinese public relations machine in Burma is certainly not holding back.
New Mandala readers will all want to see the 8-page special lift-out that the Chinese Embassy produced for The Myanmar Times this month. On page 3 we learn that:
China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors linked by comman mountains and rivers. The two peoples have made amicable contact since very ancient times. These friendly relations are known well as “Paukphaw (meaning full brothers) Friendship.”
To emphasise the basis of the friendship, on page 5 there are some striking “before” and “after” photos showing the Chinese commitment to Burma’s development. They even seem to have been building Baptist Churches. The “donations” in question come from China Power Investment, the company behind the Myitsone project.
The text stresses that:
China Power Investment (CPI), who is responsible for the Upstream Ayeyawady Hydropower Project, has spent a total of 25.055 million USD in the resettlement work, 18.55 million USD of which will be spent in Myitsone dam resettling site, which is 8644 USD per person. Immigrants’ living standards will be improved significantly. Aung Myin Tha Resettlement Village, one of the villages build by CPI, has become a model village in Myanmar with new school, monastery, church and hospital.
Model villages. Big per capita spends on resettlement. Monasteries. Churches. Schools. If all of this has got you intrigued then you can find out much more about Chinese plans for the Myitsone development at this handsome website.
In a final flourish the Chinese lift-out reminds us:
The Chinese enterprises are committed to actively fulfill their social responsibilities, participate in public undertakings and carry out strict environmental management, in both construction and operation phase, for the welfare of the local people, with the principle of mutual benefit and common development, so as to build every program into the project of friendship. Moreover, they will treat and love their Myanmar colleagues like brothers, to nurture the evergreen tree of paukphaw sentiments and the ever-inflorescent bloom of friendship.
And, as the headline insists, “Yes to Corporate Social Responsibility!”
“China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors…” Yes, friendly, except for those times when China tried to expand into Burma (1765-69) or incite a cultural revolution amongst Burmese Chinese (late 60s) or support armed insurgents against the central government (CPB until 1989)…
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It would be interesting if Chinese investment in Myanmar was forced to be more transparent by the Myanmar government rather than its own.
It would say something about accountability of Chinese FDI in this moment of massive expansion internationally.
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All of this coverage of the Myitsone cancellation detracts from the many other projects going on, like the Chinese funded and built Tasang Dam on the Salween, which, to my understanding, is bigger and will displace more people than Myitsone. Furthermore, just because Myitsone has been cancelled, doesn’t mean the five other -huge- hydropower projects further upstream on the Ayerwaddy have been. Myitsone’s cancellation is soft serve ice cream. Eat it up! Little has changed in the big picture. The Ayerwaddy is still going to die, they’re just not going to take out its heart at Myitsone. They’ll just take its intestine, liver, kidneys, lungs and stomach at Renam, Kaunglanhpu, Hpizaw, Chipwi and Laza. The vacillations of elites’ whims, which ultimately determine decisions in Southeast Asian resource politics, will carry on. Maybe Chinese developers are much better at dealing with elites’ vacillations than other donors. Good, or bad, it’s more productive to yell at a wall than get in a huff over it.
But, as ever,
Sabai sabai!
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“…resettling site, which is 8644 USD per person.”
This number is disingenuous. That’s the “official” exchange rate, which only junta cronies benefit from when outsiders bring money into Myanmar. The real exchange rate once the money has been brought into Myanmar means that each resettled person (ie person told s/he must move against his or her will) will receive, if he or she is lucky, about 86 USD.
I know this because when I paid the fee for a young Myanmar person’s English course in Yangon last month, 190,000 kyat equaled about 450 USD if exchanged “on the street”, but the same number of kyat required 45000 USD (!!!) at a government-sanctioned exchange site.
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The people won a battle but not the war, so I agree with Sabai Sabai. Shwe Gas pipeline project appears to be the next arena, and I believe it is the right one. These two are the heads of the dragon as it were.
The govt might have calculated it’s a trade off between the dam and the pipeline. By depriving the Rakhine of their offshore gas, to be siphoned off to China as Rakhine State blinks in the dark, the regime has failed to split between the people of the Rakhine coastland and those of the Burman heartlands plus Shan uplands, vast areas of which stand to suffer from environmental devastation, something that can unite people to stand up and fight together.
If the Chinese think the generals are content to leave the Wa alone for the foreseeable future, they’ve got another think coming. If the Wa think they had better keep their powder dry, it won’t be for long and they’ll find out breaking the alliance with the KIA and listening to China was a mistake. None of them expected a BGF fate earmarked for them and all of them seemed to believe the promise of political solutions once a new civilian govt was in power. No use repeating, “Burmese talk in forked tongue” like the native American complaining about the white man.
The effusive language that both countries use in their relations is a time honoured tradition. Whilst the Chinese are arguably the only race the Burmese hold in high esteem for their ancient civilisation, intellect and skills, this great alien empire along the long eastern border has always been regarded as a powerful threat since the days of the Burmese empires of yore. When in the 18th C the Burmese invaded Thailand twice, the Chinese invaded Burma four times all repulsed at the border. The generals kn0w their country’s military history inside out, and realize it won’t be that easy this time.
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…. And another thing to add to my largely incoherent observation above, I wonder what sort of influence the Myitsone cancellation will have over the Xayaburi project decision. Vientiane will look damn foolish if they proceed with a project in spite of protests, from local to regional, when Naypidaw have cancelled a big dam to apparently appease popular protest. Well that’s how I imagine some types to play it: Naypidaw more reasonable than Vientiane!
Sabai sabai
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@Nigella, you are right, and also wrong. I’m sorry but it sounds like you got ripped off by your ‘young Myanmar person’ friend… unless if your math is wrong, that would mean that 1USD is equal to 422 Kyat. The rate has never been that low, in the past 20 years. This year’s lowest rate was in August when it was down to 750 kyat per dollar, however, rates are now hovering at about 825-830 in Sept and October…
and in general, the MT supplement was quite interesting, but it was much to little, much too late in regards to CSR. they sensed the cause celebre that was the Myitsone project and how much it was getting discussed in the media, but promoted their CSR practices far too late. also, the Chinese government is terrible at PR.
all foreign investors, whether Thai, Chinese, or Belarussian, all get excitement behind the eyes when it comes to the lax rules regarding environmental and human protection in Myanmar. this all might be changing fairly soon with some very fascinating discussions in both the Upper and Lower House in the past weeks.
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