Myanmar: A Chinese-backed Dam Project Leaves Myanmar in a Bind

Mar 31, 2017 | Mike Ives, New York Times
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The Myitsone Dam is among the largest of many Chinese-financed energy and mining projects approved by the military junta that ruled Myanmar until 2011. It is especially contentious because it would be the first dam to cross the Irrawaddy River, the mythic cradle of civilization for Myanmar’s ethnic Burman majority. But as Myanmar moved toward democracy and controls loosened on public expression, rising burst into the open, and the dam became a focus of protest. While officials said the dam would provide Myanmar much-needed cash and electricity, critics said it would cause irreparable harm to the river, destroy fish stocks downstream and displace thousands of villagers.