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New documents show how a retail chain’s sales practices helped put guns on US streets Deep in the forested highlands of northern Myanmar, where the Irrawaddy River rises from two tributaries in the hills of Kachin state, a contentious infrastructure project is stirring again – and threatening to reopen wounds that never fully healed.
The Myitsone Dam, a US$3.6 billion Chinese-financed hydroelectric megaproject that was shelved more than a decade ago after igniting a storm of popular fury, is back on the table.
Myanmar’s military rulers have begun holding public consultations on resuming construction, a move analysts say risks a fresh confrontation with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a powerful ethnic armed group that controls much of the surrounding territory.
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The push to restart the project reportedly came on the heels of a high-profile visit to Naypyidaw in April by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who pledged deeper investment ties and support for the country’s newly formalised leadership.
Min Aung Hlaing – the general who led the coup that toppled Myanmar’s democratically elected government in February 2021, plunging his country into diplomatic isolation and civil war – was sworn in as president a little over two weeks before Wang’s visit.
Rebel resistance
When the Myitsone Dam was initially shelved, it represented a rare moment of political responsiveness in Myanmar. Thein Sein, another ex-general turned president, suspended the project in 2011 following a fierce backlash.
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