China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEK)

In line with this project, China plans to connect to Myanmar’s Kyaukpyu Port. Thus, it will be able to connect to the blue economic corridor in the Bay of Bengal. Thanks to the Myanmar Corridor, China has created an alternative to the B-China-India-Myanmar Corridor, which has reached an impasse due to its disputes with India. It is also important because ÇMEK will pacify the Strait of Malacca.

The China-Myanmar Economic Corridor consists of three main projects:

• An oil and gas pipeline connecting Myanmar’s strategic port city of Kyaukpyu with China’s southern Yunnan state. (Complete)
• Construction of an industrial park with textile, food and building material industries in the Free Trade Zone in Kyaukpyu. Also the development of an oil terminal in Kyaukphyu and the construction of a deep-sea port.
• Construction of a railway connecting Kyaukpyu to Mandalay and then Kunming. (The suspended project is scheduled to be restarted.)

Of the 24 projects proposed by China under the CCT, only 9 have been accepted by the Government of Myanmar so far. The most important of these are: Kyaukpyu Special Economic Zone; the border trade areas of Myitkyina, Muse and Kanpiketi in Kachin and Shan provinces; It is a new city near Yangon and the Muse-Mandalay Railway Line, which will cover an area twice the size of Singapore.