Chinese opinion on the Rohingya issue

[alaungphaya]

Religious violence recently broke out in west Myanmar's Rakhine state. The Myanmese authorities have reportedly announced a curfew in several regions, including the city of Kyaukpyu.

Kyaukpyu is not a trivial place, especially for China. The city, located in Rakhine state which is in the middle of Myanmar's western coast, has close ties with China.

An oil and gas pipeline, about 2,380 kilometers long, is planned to start from here. Before long, it will stretch all the way to the Chinese city of Kunming. A highway and a railway are under simultaneous construction.

With this project accomplished, a large portion of the crude oil that China imports from the Gulf and Africa can land from Kyaukpyu and be delivered to China, rather than go through existing route in the Strait of Malacca.

More convenient transportation of crude oil is just one of the benefits. What's far more important is that China will face much less strategic pressure in its energy transportation through the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea.

More http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/714740/Standing-by-in-Myanmar-too-costly-for-China.aspx

Myanmar's development, its political geometry, and its issues, like ethnic and religious conflicts, directly link to China's interests. China is not just a bystander, and it can't afford just to stand by.

Your politburo is very much a bystander in Arakan. If they want to do something, they should have a word with your new Bangladeshi friends. Anyway, ethnic conflict (and a lack of democracy) doesn't seem to be stopping China on its road to modernity.