Rakhine is also known for ongoing conflicts between the regime’s army and the Arakan Army from the Buddhist-majority Rakhine ethnic group.Īs one of the 14 nations bordering China, Myanmar holds a unique position in the Belt and Road Initiative, a 10-year-old project to connect the world to China and counter what Beijing sees as the current U.S.-dominated international order.Īfter 10 Years of China’s BRI Projects in Cambodia, Benefits Up for DebateĪccording to a report by the U.S. The northern part of the state is home to the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group long subjected to discrimination in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. The port’s 242-hectare site is in the western state of Rakhine. Fighting that erupted after the February 1, 2021, military coup and COVID-era restrictions are the most recent causes of delay. Discussions on the $7.3 billion port project and its adjoining $1.3 billion special economic zone began in 2010. The State Administration Council and the Chinese state-owned firm CITIC signed the Kyaukphyu deep-sea port deal, a “supplementary agreement,” to a 2014 deal in the final weeks of 2023. The project is a significant step in China’s push to develop an outlet to the Indian Ocean and bypass the Strait of Malacca, a pirate-infested chokepoint on busy trade routes to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The East-West Economic Corridor is an economic development program spanning across mainland Southeast Asia, covering Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, with Cambodia also included.Myanmar’s military government has approved resumption of construction of the Chinese-backed Kyaukphyu deep-sea port after years of delay. The corridor was envisaged as a land bridge connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans, saving the sea route via the Malacca Strait. The road route connects the port cities of Mawlamyine in the west, to Da Nang in the east. The EWEC also calls for the development of a railway that would connect the two ports. The railway would then serve cargo and passenger trains. Work on the EWEC has focused on improving highways, building new bridges, and streamlining cross-border transport agreements. Unfortunately, not a single kilometre of new railway has been added. If the railways are built it will transform cargo and passenger transport in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Here is the status of the railways of the four countries that the railway passes through. Mawlamyine is the first (or last) station of the East-West Economic Corridor. The route from Mawlamyine to Myawaddy on the Thai border is about 120 km. Moulmein (as Mawlamyine was then known) was the first capital of British Burma between 18. It was an important river port in colonial times, with timber being the major export. There were sea connections to Penang, Singapore, Calcutta, Bombay, and London. The current port at Mawlamyine is not suitable for large container ships, so there is a proposed new deep-sea port at Kalagauk Island, about 130 km south of Mawlamyine.įor businesses in Thailand shipping cargo to the west, they could send containers here instead of Bangkok, saving the journey around the Malay Peninsula. Mawlamyine as a port has competition from the proposed Dawei port and Special Economic Zone, which is closer to Bangkok. With the new railway connecting to the existing railway at Mawlamyine, passengers could then travel from Bangkok to Yangon by train Thailand There are currently no railways connecting Myanmar to Thailand, which is one of the many missing links of Southeast Asia railways. The Thailand section forms the bulk of the line, traversing an 800km-long route from Maesot to Mukdahan. Even if Myanmar and Laos don’t build their section for years, this line would still be of great benefit to Thailand if they went ahead with it. There is no east-west rail in North, Central, and Eastern (Isan) Thailand. A railway across Thailand would go a long way towards decentralising Bangkok-centric Thailand. The railway would cross paths with the northern line at Nakhon Sawan, and the Northeastern Line at Ban Phai in Khon Kaen Province. There have been numerous announcements over the years about the plans to start this project. There has been interest from the Korea Rail Network Authority, and Japan has proposed a high-speed railway on the line. The original plan was for a straight line that would have passed through Khon Kaen and Phitsanulok.
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