Myanmar and China may have no choice but to scale back and move their troubled dam project

Aung San Suu Kyi wants cooperation with China and says backtracking on Myitsone would be a blow to Myanmar’s reputation

However, intense local and environmentalist opposition to the project may force a change, if not an outright scrapping

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Published: 12:00pm, 1 May 2019Updated: 12:00pm, 1 May 2019

In late April, Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi visited Beijing to take part in the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. There China and Myanmar signed three bilateral cooperation agreements, discussed the extensive promotion of their relations and conducted constructive consultations on Myanmar's peace process and stability in the border areas.

However, no agreement was reached on the Myitsone dam project, despite public fears in Myanmar that construction of the dam, in limbo since 2011, would soon be revived.

For weeks leading up to the forum, the Myitsone controversy had dominated local media headlines and spurred protests. On February 7, about 10,000 Kachin locals held a rally in the state capital of Myitkyina to oppose the Myitsone project they said would devastate the environment and displace families. On April 1, about 200 anti-Myitsone environmental activists and writers held a meeting in Yangon and established a national committee to oppose it.

Though no decision was made in Beijing this time, a solution cannot be far off. Myanmar's top leaders have signalled subtle changes in their attitude towards the project.

On January 10, Aung San Suu Kyi, during a launch ceremony of the upper Namhtwan hydropower plant in Kachin's Putao, said that the Myitsone project has implications for national reputation. On January 22, in Kalay of Sagaing region, she answered questions from the public. She said that the incumbent government could not just cancel the previous government's project, otherwise the country would lose its credibility. On March 14, she met people in Pyay of Bago region and said, “We have to think politically, socially and economically, and we could make a wrong decision if we see it from one perspective”.

The technical problems caused by the Myitsone project, such as potential environmental damage, displacement and dam collapse, are not really the key issues. Myitsone draws a lot of attention in Myanmar, basically, because of politics.

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