Anti-regime protest groups demonstrated against moves by the Myanmar military junta to resume work on the long-suspended Myitsone hydropower project in Kachin State on Wednesday.
Despite the risks of provoking a crackdown, 40 members of the Hpakant Township-based Hmawhlae and Hsengtaung strike columns, working with the General Strike Coordination Body, held a protest outdoors near the project site.
The demonstrators carried banners calling for the permanent termination of the project and criticising the upcoming, military-run elections.
Phoe Kyaw, the leader of the Hmawhlae Strike Column, told Myanmar Now that the aim of the protest was to voice their rejection of Chinese interference in Myanmar’s affairs, particularly its pressure on the junta to proceed with the hydroelectric dam project.
“They exploit Myanmar’s natural resources,” he said, referring to the project’s backers from China. “The Chinese government is a bad government for us, the people of Myanmar. We must respond most strongly.”
He added that all citizens must unite in opposing the project, and that there will be follow-up protests.
“If we the people don’t speak out, the military has been corrupt from the beginning and they’ll continue to be corrupt,” he said.
Phoe Kyaw went on to say that the project cannot succeed if the people refuse to accept it, and that the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), which has been battling the Myanmar military and capturing territory in Kachin State, has agreed the project cannot go ahead without the people’s consent.
The Myanmar military regime formed a high-level committee in late August to oversee the continuation of the Ayeyarwady Myitsone-Myitnya Basin hydropower project.
Less than four months later, during a trip to the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina, the junta’s second-in-command Vice Senior General Soe Win said on December 16 that the regime had reached an agreement with China to resume work on the project.
The junta issued a statement the same day vowing to take necessary action against those opposing or obstructing their infrastructure and development projects.
The military regime’s reliance on Chinese diplomatic support and materiel to gain the upper hand in Myanmar’s ongoing civil war this year has provoked allegations that the military is restarting the project in exchange for China’s help.
A source with knowledge of Myanmar’s electric energy sector said there are also signs that the military is planning similar projects on the Thanlwin (Salween) River.
The Myitsone project—a joint venture shared between Chinese and Myanmar military-connected investors—includes plans to construct seven hydroelectric dams some 23 miles north of Myitkyina in a complex capable of generating over 20,000 megawatts of electricity.
The site of the 3.6 billion-dollar project will encompass the confluence of the Maykha and Malikha rivers at Myitsone, as well as their tributaries.
Civil society organisations voiced objections to the project due to its likely environmental impacts, as well as its potential to cause flooding in the area and disrupt local people’s livelihoods. Following opposition, the project was suspended in 2011 during the presidency of former general Thein Sein.
