Gas has started flowing to energy-hungry China through a pipeline from Myanmar, Beijing’s official media reported, in a major project that highlights their economic links even as political ties weaken.
The 793km pipeline runs from Kyaukpyu on Myanmar’s west coast, close to the offshore Shwe gasfields, and across the country.
It enters southwest China at Ruili, near areas where heavy clashes between the rebel Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar military were reported earlier this year.
As well as diversifying China’s sources of fuel, by supplying energy to the vast and economically less-developed west, it could help Beijing’s attempts to promote growth there.
The pipeline has been years in construction and went into operation on Sunday at a ceremony in Mandalay, Xinhua news agency reported.
“When torches flamed in the sky .... a storm of applause and cheers broke out,” it said.
In an editorial yesterday, the Global Times said: “This is another breakthrough in China’s strategy of energy diversification and has obvious significance in reducing China’s dependence on the Strait of Malacca for the import of oil and natural gas.”
A parallel oil pipeline is also part of the project, with China National Petroleum the major partner in both assets.
According to Xinhua, the gas pipeline will be able to carry 12 billion cubic meters annually, while the crude oil pipeline has a capacity of 22 million tonnes per year.
The start of the project comes as resource-rich Myanmar shakes off decades of rule by generals who kept the country largely isolated from the rest of the world.
However, they did maintain close economic links with China, which for years was the major foreign influence in a country that was under heavy international sanctions.
Now, with Myanmar opening up politically and economically, more countries are setting up operations and seeking deals, which sanctions had prevented.
“Myanmar used to be sanctioned by the West and China was its only friend,” the Global Times editorial said “Nowadays, it has opened more to the West. This will reduce its passion in cooperating with China, but does not mean it will set itself against China.”
However, in a warning that Beijing expects its economic interests to be protected, the newspaper cautioned Myanmar that it must ensure agreements regarding the project are fulfilled, no matter who eventually leads the country.
“China should be determined to supervise Myanmar in doing so,” the paper said. “Myanmar should hold a serious attitude toward China, and Chinese will take [the Burmese] people’s attitude toward the pipeline as a test of their stance on China.”
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the