China and Myanmar sign off on Belt and Road projects

Sub-title: 

Deal strengthens ties with Beijing as Aung San Suu Kyi faces foreign criticism for Rohingya crackdown

Description: 

"Myanmar and China on Saturday signed 33 bilateral agreements that will bind the south-east Asian country closer to its giant neighbour, including rail and deep-sea port projects along an economic corridor linking China’s south-western interior to the Indian Ocean.  Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, and Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi agreed the projects — long under discussion as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative global infrastructure plan — on the second day of Mr Xi’s two-day visit to the capital Naypyidaw.  The agreements’ signing reflects deepening ties between Myanmar and China at a time when Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is under intense criticism internationally for the 2017-8 military campaign targeting minority Rohingya in Rakhine state, which killed thousands and exiled more than 730,000. As part of China’s signature BRI project for the country, the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, the two sides on Saturday signed agreements on railways linking China to Kyaukpyu on the Bay of Bengal in Rakhine, and a final agreement on the building of a deep-sea port there.  The two sides also inked agreements providing for a special economic zone at the Chinese border and made oblique reference to New Yangon City, a planned new industrial quarter in Myanmar’s biggest city that the Chinese state-owned construction company CCCC has proposed building..."

Source/publisher: 

"Financial Times" ( London)

Date of Publication: 

2020-01-18

Date of entry: 

2020-01-19

Grouping: 

  • Individual Documents

Category: 

Countries: 

Myanmar, China

Language: 

English

Resource Type: 

text

Text quality: 

    • Good