Mynamar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is heading to Beijing on Thursday, amid mounting criticism in the West about her handling of the Rohingya crisis.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi had done enough spadework ahead of Ms. Suu Kyi’s arrival for a three-day international conference in Beijing. Earlier this month, he travelled to Myanmar to propose a plan of reconciliation, which would also involve Bangladesh. During a press conference with Ms. Suu Kyi, Mr. Wang announced that he would first press for a ceasefire. This could be followed by the repatriation of refugees, following a dialogue between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Economic development of the area to remove the underlying conditions that are at the root of conflict would be the top priority in the third phase. Mr. Wang invited the “international community” to become a stakeholder in this exercise.
Economic corridor
During his visit, Mr. Wang also proposed setting up the China-Myanmar economic corridor — a spur that would add structural underpinnings to the rapidly evolving China-Myanmar relations.
He said that Y-shaped corridor can start from China’s Yunnan province, and head towards Mandalay in Myanmar. From there it could extend towards the east and west to Yangon New City and Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone, in the Rakhine province.
China’s focus on the new corridor is unlikely to go unnoticed in New Delhi. The new Chinese initiative follows the virtual stalling of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor, after China and Pakistan decided to establish an economic corridor, which New Delhi opposes.
Analysts point out that China has major stakes in ending the conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, and finding an insulated regional solution to the crisis. The China-Myanmar gas pipeline, heading into Yunnan province, draws natural gas from the Shwe gas field in the offshore basin of the Rakhine state.
Beijing’s strategic interests
China also needs stability in the Rakhine because of Kyaukphyu — a deep-water port, which is also located in the province. This port is vital for China’s future energy security. Keen to reduce reliance on the U.S.-dominated Malacca straits for its oil shipments, China wants its oil cargoes from West Asia and Africa to be offloaded at Kyaukphyu. From here they can be channelled through an oil pipeline heading towards Yunnan, which was inaugurated earlier this year.
China’s CITIC group also plans to invest $10 billion into the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
In its response to the censure that it is receiving from the West, Myanmar, shedding a zero-sum approach, is also simultaneously deepening its engagement with India, which, by default, shares China’s concerns to keep the Rakhine state conflict-free. In a replay of the Gwadar port in Pakistan, which the Chinese are developing and Chabahar in Iran, where India has a stake, New Delhi has developed the port of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine. In 2016, it announced development of a 1000 acre special economic zone at Sittwe, on the similar lines to the Chinese initiative in Kyaukphyu.
Sittwe is also essential for providing port access to India’s landlocked northeast. Construction activity is in full swing to establish a land corridor from Sittwe to Mizoram via Paletwa in Myanmar’s Chin state. The emergence of Sittwe port promises to ease pressure on port of Kolkata — the Northeast’s lifeline — which is less than 550 km away.
In preparation of Ms. Suu Kyi’s arrival, Myanmar’s powerful military chief Min Aung Hlaing, met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. Mr. Xi called for strengthening “strategic communication” between the two neighbours, and encouraged the two armed forces to work towards “regional peace and stability”.
In July, Gen. Hlaing had also visited India for a week, spurring greater military interaction, which has included the India-Myanmar Bilateral Military Exercise (IMBAX-2017), which concluded on Saturday at the Joint Training Node in Umroi, Meghalaya.
