Agreement signed to build China-Myanmar Economic Corridor
Myanmar and China signed a memorandum of understanding to set up the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, according to a statement from the China National Development and Reform Commission.
The agreement was signed on September 9 by Myanmar’s Minister of Planning and Finance U Soe Win and He Lifeng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The NDRC, China’s top economic planning agency, aims to construct basic infrastructure across key economic centers in Myanmar.
The estimated 1,700-kilometer-long corridor will connect Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province, to Myanmar’s major economic checkpoints—first to Mandalay in central Myanmar, and then west to the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone.
The two sides agreed to form working groups focusing on a dozen different areas, including basic infrastructure, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, transport, finance, human resources development, telecommunications, and research and technology.
The deal comes at a time when Myanmar faces tremendous economic hardship at home and mounting global pressure over ethnic conflicts in the country. The CMEC offers a solution for the Southeast Asian nation to weather the daunting challenges and points to the growing popularity of China’s win-win, no-strings-attached cooperation model under the Belt and Road initiative, analysts noted.
The CMEC will also reduce Beijing’s trade and energy reliance on the Malacca straits — the narrow passage that links the Indian Ocean with the Pacific. Chinese planners worry that the military domination over the Malacca straits of the US — a country with which it is already engaged in a trade war — can threaten one of China’s major economic lifeline.
Myanmar and China signed a memorandum of understanding to set up the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, according to a statement from the China National Development and Reform Commission. The agreement was signed on September 9 by Myanmar’s Minister of Planning and Finance U Soe Win and He Lifeng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The NDRC, China’s top economic planning agency, aims to construct basic infrastructure across key economic centers in Myanmar. The estimated 1,700-kilometer-long corridor will connect Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province, to Myanmar’s major economic...
Myanmar and China signed a memorandum of understanding to set up the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, according to a statement from the China National Development and Reform Commission.
The agreement was signed on September 9 by Myanmar’s Minister of Planning and Finance U Soe Win and He Lifeng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The NDRC, China’s top economic planning agency, aims to construct basic infrastructure across key economic centers in Myanmar.
The estimated 1,700-kilometer-long corridor will connect Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province, to Myanmar’s major economic checkpoints—first to Mandalay in central Myanmar, and then west to the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone.
The two sides agreed to form working groups focusing on a dozen different areas, including basic infrastructure, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, transport, finance, human resources development, telecommunications, and research and technology.
The deal comes at a time when Myanmar faces tremendous economic hardship at home and mounting global pressure over ethnic conflicts in the country. The CMEC offers a solution for the Southeast Asian nation to weather the daunting challenges and points to the growing popularity of China’s win-win, no-strings-attached cooperation model under the Belt and Road initiative, analysts noted.
The CMEC will also reduce Beijing’s trade and energy reliance on the Malacca straits — the narrow passage that links the Indian Ocean with the Pacific. Chinese planners worry that the military domination over the Malacca straits of the US — a country with which it is already engaged in a trade war — can threaten one of China’s major economic lifeline.
