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The 99-year lease agreement for Kyaukphyu Port has finally been signed! China also has a port in the Indian Ocean, which will take 13 years to win from 2009 to 2024.
Myanmar's infighting not only allowed the mainland to successfully dismantle the dens of wire fraud that ravaged the Chinese people, but also promoted the construction of the Kyaukphyu port that had been dormant for ten years.
What is so good about Kyaukphyu Port that China will not let go for more than 10 years? Why does the Burmese government keep delaying it?
is a guillotine port
In 2008, Kyaukpiao was backward and remote, no one dared to grab the first place in the penultimate place, and the population was only tens of thousands, and it was desolate as far as the eye could see.
Doesn't the Burmese government know the significance of Kyaukphyu Port? As a natural deep-water port, if it is developed here, it will definitely bring a lot of benefits to Myanmar.
However, from the Burmese government's point of view, Kyaukphyu is far away from towns and people, and if a road is built, it will inevitably pass through the desert hills, and there is no shelter around the way, which is very likely to provoke attacks, and the plan to build a railway has been shelved.
In fact, it doesn't matter whether the railway is repaired or not, because a single railway can not drive the economic development of Kyaukphyu, if a train full of materials enters Kyaukphyu, let alone the port, there is no wharf, bonded area, storage area, here is like a "dead-end port".
If you want to get rich, build roads first. At this time, there was a group in China that had already seen the potential of Kyaukphyu in the future. Since the nineties of the last century, the mainland has become a net importer of oil, and at that time, most of the oil output was from Middle Eastern countries, and if you want to transport oil and other materials, you must pass through the Strait of Malacca.
At this time, CITIC Group had just completed the diesel engine plant project in Myanmar in 06, and began a new round of prospects for the national oil import channel.
If China had a port in the Indian Ocean, it would be able to avoid the enormous risks posed by a single economic corridor. The Strait of Malacca is not safe, it is fragile and deadly.
According to statistics, nearly 70% of the mainland's oil and about half of its natural gas will pass through the Strait of Malacca, the only way from the Middle East to the coast of the mainland.
It is also an important gateway for mainland exports, especially with countries such as the United States, Australia and Singapore, which often join forces to conduct military exercises near Malacca.
There is also a military base established by the United States in the narrowest part of the strait, and it is imminent to have a port of its own, which may be stuck at any time.
Kyaukphyu Port is the most suitable port for both geographical and natural conditions, avoiding the Strait of Malacca and facing the Indian Ocean.
By building a port here, China does not need to detour Malacca along the coast, shortening the distance by several thousand nautical miles, saving about a week of sea voyage time.
The most important thing is to avoid the risk of China's oil and gas transportation lifeline in the hands of others, from Yunnan to Kyaukphyu, the train only takes three or four hours, if the high-speed rail or air transport is built, the time will be shorter, and the freight will be greatly reduced.
The natural water depth of Kyaukpyu Port is 24 meters, and the berthing of cargo ships can reach 20-300,000 tons, and it is also a natural shelter from the wind and waves, which is of great strategic significance to China facing the Indian Ocean and building a "herringbone" transportation channel for Bangladesh, China and India.
Can the Burmese government not know the significance of Kyaukphyu Port? Originally, the mainland and the Myanmar government had already negotiated cooperation matters in '09, and even the people of Kyaukphyu couldn't help but ask, "When will the construction of the port begin?"
Obviously looking forward to the development of Kyaukphyu Port, why does the Myanmar government delay it again and again?
Ten years of sharpening a sword
In 2009, CITIC Group immediately drafted a memorandum of understanding (MOU) after repeated surveys in Kyaukphyu, which stated that it would not only build a port, but also carry out a thorough renovation of the foundation for Kyaukphyu to build an economic zone no less than Shenzhen.
CITIC Group is confident in expanding into the Myanmar market, and plans to expand the scale of Kyaukphyu to a population of 2 million. This ambitious plan was quickly embraced by the Burmese government.
On December 20, Vice Chairman of the Mainland, Vice Chairman of Myanmar Maung Aye, and Chairman of CITIC Group jointly signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone, Deep-water Port and Railway Project.
No one could have imagined that this memorandum would become an important basis for the Burmese government's backstabbing against China in the future.
The following year, Thein Sein ascended to the presidency of Myanmar to further expand the scope of China-Myanmar cooperation, and the scope of the memorandum of understanding was again expanded, at which time the project is expected to start in three years, and the operation life of Kyaukphyu port is as high as 50 years.
In September 2010, less than a year after the start of the Myitsone project, Myanmar announced that it would be put on hold indefinitely, with pressure ranging from Myanmar to China.
In 11 years, a Chinese company signed a railway project with Myanmar, and CITIC Group had to block the previous investigation report. The construction of Kyaukphyu Port was interrupted.
Three years later, Myanmar's Ministry of Railways and Transport halted the deep-water port project again, and the Myanmar government completely reversed the previous memorandum of cooperation signed with China.
On the basis of the memorandum provided by CITIC in 09, three projects were proposed in Kyaukphyu, namely Kyaukphyu Deep-water Port, Kyaukphyu Industrial Park, and Urban Residential.
At the same time, the Myanmar government will open the three projects to the global public bidding, the potential of Kyaukphyu Port has attracted countless pairs of eyes, in order to win Kyaukphyu Port, the chairman of CITIC Group personally took charge, and Thailand CP, Tianjin TEDA, Yunnan Construction Engineering and other groups formed a bidding consortium.
A bidding team of more than 200 people gave up all their holidays to rush to produce bids, and in 2015, when the Myanmar government ruled that CITIC submitted bids for the deep-water port and industrial park projects, all of which were awarded.
Soon after, however, the Burmese government began to stall again, and Aung San Suu Kyi has been trying to get more benefits from Kyaukphyu port since she came to power.
In 2014, after CITIC submitted its bid, it set up a small poverty alleviation campaign in Kyaukphyu, providing loans of 1.5 billion kyats to villages and towns in Kyaukphyu County to help the people of Kyaukphyu get rid of poverty.
So much so that when the CITIC team came to Kyaukphyu in 16 years, the villagers took their hands and thanked them over and over again, and repeatedly asked "when will the project start".
With a little effort, the attitude of the Burmese people towards China has gradually changed. In 2017, in the face of continued inaction by the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the mainland continued to exert pressure and finally signed a development and implementation project document, and reached a consensus on a framework agreement the following year.
After two years of preparation, the first phase of the Kyaukphyu Port project was officially launched, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it had to be forced to suspend due to the epidemic.
At the same time, the Burmese government began to be in turmoil, and Aung San Suu Kyi, as the spokesperson elected by the West, was so close to China that it ignited the anger of the West.
The various sanctions imposed by Western governments on Myanmar have also hit Myanmar's economy hard, making it even more difficult to move forward with the Kyaukphyu port project. It was not until Min Aung Hlaing's government came to power that Myanmar was completely mired in a deep civil war.
Due to the continuous development and growth of drugs and wire fraud in Myanmar, most Chinese were brutally murdered, and the Kokang Alliance Army fired the first shot of resistance.
Both sides benefit each other and create a brilliant port
Rushing all the way from Kokang to Lao Cai, he completely destroyed the power of the four major families in Myanmar and dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Min Aung Hlaing government.
For the Kyaukphyu area, Min Aung Hlaing's government attaches more importance to it, which is not financially rich in the first place, and has followed the Kokang allied forces for so many days to stalemate, and transferred part of its troops to the Arakan army in Kyaukphyu.
At present, the war situation on both sides is still very anxious, and it cannot be said that the civil war will be completely ended, but I am afraid that it will not last long. After the civil war in Myanmar, the mainland not only successfully rescued the trapped people in terms of wire fraud, but also took this opportunity to have an in-depth exchange with the Burmese government again.
On December 27, 2023, China and Myanmar held a signing ceremony in Naypyidaw, which not only added various clauses, but also extended the original 50-year lease to 99 years, with the mainland being solely responsible for construction and operation.
After ten years of progress, the project has finally ushered in the final result, and the Myanmar government will not die, no matter from any point of view, cooperation with the mainland is a win-win situation.
Since CITIC won the bid, it has been providing various assistance to Kyaukphyu, and according to China's construction plan, the cost of building the port will be between 25 billion and 30 billion US dollars, from roads and railways, to open up river channels, and to build industrial parks and ports.
The construction of the port and industrial park will also drive the economic development of transportation and towns near the port, and the development of the surrounding land will create the most advanced special economic zone in Myanmar.
The Myanmar government can not only sit and collect rent, but also vigorously develop the country's oil and gas resources through Kyaukphyu Port and open up trade routes from East Asia to the Middle East, which is a very considerable investment for China and Myanmar.
At present, the China-Myanmar railway supporting the Kyaukphyu port is already under construction, the oil pipeline is also running, and the construction of the road between China and Laos is very successful.
Moreover, the mainland may have made a promise in the lend-lease that after all, it was a commercial agreement, and that the mainland was not as brutal as the great powers in history, and that there were no unreasonable regulations that undermined Burma's national sovereignty during the term of the lend-lease.
All revenues from the port are shared proportionately, and investors can choose to renew or sublease the lease at the end of the lease term. Myanmar only needs to reap the benefits of the fishermen.
As an important project of the "Belt and Road", Kyaukphyu Port is of great strategic significance to the development of the southwest region of the mainland, and has an alternative plan for the oil and gas lifeline of the Strait of Malacca, with lower cost and higher economic benefits.
epilogue
At the same time, the Myanmar government can also take this economic train and develop the economy as soon as possible, after all, the penultimate position in Southeast Asia is not comfortable.
At present, although the conflict in Myanmar has not completely stopped, especially the Rakhine State army in the Kyaukphyu area, as long as the oil channel is not destroyed and the construction of the project is not hindered, the mainland will not take easy action, and the Kyaukphyu port will be completed quickly!
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