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Article

21 Aug 2016

Author:
Shi Jiangtao, South China Morning Post

As Suu Kyi heads home, solving dam deadlock remains key to improving ties between China and Myanmar

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…[D]espite Aung San Suu Kyi’s largely successful visit to China as Myanmar’s de facto leader...suspension of the US$3.6 billion Myitsone project on the Irrawaddy River...in 2011 plunged the otherwise friendly relations between Myanmar and China [due to local concerns over its environmental impacts]…Along with cementing China’s support for Myanmar’s ethnic reconciliation process, the dam project topped the agenda for Suu Kyi’s five-day visit.…But both sides appear to have made little headway on the contentious Myitsone dam.

…Both Xi and Premier Li Keqiang urged the Myanmarese authorities to settle disputes over the dam project properly to avoid possible further damage to the bilateral ties. In response, Suu Kyi promised to find a resolution that “suits both sides’ interests” but refused to give a detailed timetable. …[B]efore her visit to China, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government established a new commission to evaluate the suspended Myitsone dam and other controversial hydropower projects….[T]he commission’s first report was not expected until mid-November, while a full study of the dam’s potential effects could take three to four years to complete…[mentions China Power Investment]