Editing Economy of Myanmar (section)

===Chinese investment===
{{main|BCIM Economic Corridor}}
China, by far the biggest investor in Burma, has focused on constructing oil and gas pipelines that "crisscross the country, starting from a new terminus at [[Kyaukphyu]], just below [[Sittwe]], up to [[Mandalay]] and on to the Chinese border town of [[Ruili]] and then [[Kunming]], the capital of [[Yunnan province]]". This would prevent China from "having to funnel oil from Africa and the Middle East through the bottleneck around Singapore".<ref name="Economist Rite" /> 

Since the Myanmar's military junta took power as the [[State Peace and Development Council]] junta in 1988, the ties between China's [[People's Liberation Army]] and Myanmar's military forces developed and formalised key ties between the two states. China became Myanmar's key source of aid, loans and other financial assistance. China remained Myanmar's biggest foreign investor in 2013 even after the economy opened up to other providers like Japan and India. Chinese monetary assistance allowed China to gain structural power of Myanmar and a dominant position within the [[natural resource]] sector. During this period, an underdeveloped Burmese industrial sector was driven in part by Chinese investment and consumption of a few key extractive sectors such as mining, driving domestic production away from consumer goods sectors like textiles and electronics.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Foreign Relations with Weak Peripheral States: Asymmetrical Economic Power and Insecurity |last=Reeves |first=Jeffrey  |publisher= Routledge |year=2015 |isbn= 978-1-138-89150-0 |series=Asian Security Studies |publication-date=November 2, 2015 |pages=153–156}}</ref>

[[File:Myanmar-China Border Yanlonkyine Gate.jpg|thumb|right|Yanlonkyine Gate on the Myanmar-China Border within [[Kokang Self-Administered Zone]] in 2019.]]

Legal two-way trade between Burma and mainland China reached US$1.5 billion annually by 1988 and additional Chinese trade, investment, economic, and military aid was sought to invigorate and jumpstart the re-emerging Burmese economy.{{cn|date=September 2024}} An influx of foreign capital investment from mainland China, Germany, and France has led to the development of new potential construction projects across Burma.<ref>{{Cite book |title=China's Asian Dream: Empire Building Along the New Silk Road |last= Miller  |first=Tom |publisher=Zed Books |year=2017 |isbn= 978-1-78360-923-9}}</ref> Many of these infrastructure projects are in the hands of Chinese construction contractors and civil engineers with various projects such as irrigation dams, highways, bridges, ground satellite stations, and an international airport for Mandalay.<ref>{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua | first=Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-385-72186-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/worldonfirehowex00chua_0/page/25 25] |url=https://archive.org/details/worldonfirehowex00chua_0/page/25 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Impact of China's Rise on the Mekong Region |last=Santasombat |first=Yos  |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-349-69307-8}}</ref> Burmese entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry have also established numerous joint ventures and corporate partnerships with mainland Chinese [[State-owned enterprises]] to facilitate the construction of oil pipelines that potentially could create thousands of jobs throughout the country.{{cn|date=September 2024}} Private Chinese companies rely on the established overseas Chinese [[bamboo network]] as a conduit between mainland China and Burmese Chinese businesses to navigate the local economic landscape and facilitate trade between the two countries. Mainland China is now Burma's most important source of foreign goods and services as well as one of the most important sources of capital for [[foreign direct investment]] (FDI) in the country. In the [[fiscal year]] 2013, Chin accounted for 61 percent of all foreign direct investment.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia: Cultures and Practices |last=Santasombat |first=Yos |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |year=2017 |isbn=978-981-10-4695-7 |pages=234–236}}</ref> Between 2007 and 2015, Chinese FDI increased from US$775 million to US$21.867 billion accounting for 40 percent of all FDI in the country. Much of this investment went into Burma's energy and mining industries.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia: Cultures and Practices |last=Santasombat |first=Yos |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |year=2017 |isbn=978-981-10-4695-7 |page=235}}</ref> Chinese private firms account for 87% percent of total legal cross-border trade at [[Ruili]] and have a considerable amount of structural power over the illicit economy of Myanmar. Chinese structural power over Burma's structure of finance also allows China to maintain a dominant position within the country's natural resource sector, primarily Burma's latent oil, gas, and uranium sectors.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Foreign Relations with Weak Peripheral States: Asymmetrical Economic Power and Insecurity |last=Reeves |first=Jeffrey  |publisher= Routledge |year=2015 |isbn= 978-1-138-89150-0 |series=Asian Security Studies |publication-date=November 2, 2015 |pages=151–156}}</ref> China's position as the country's primary investor also allows it to be its largest consumer of its extractive industries. Many Chinese [[state-owned enterprises]] have set their sights on Burma's high-value natural resource industries such as raw jade stones, teak and timber, rice, and marine fisheries.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia: Cultures and Practices |last=Santasombat |first=Yos |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |year=2017 |isbn=978-981-10-4695-7 |pages=234–235}}</ref>