"Resource-rich Ramree Island, on the coast of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, has remained on the sidelines of recent violence as fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) continues to intensify. But the Myanmar government’s relations with the AA are now increasingly shaped by pressure from Beijing to advance the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a US$1.3 billion Chinese-backed development project based on Ramree. The Myanmar government and Chinese state-owned CITIC Group are pushing the Kyaukphyu SEZ ahead despite public opposition. There has been limited transparency and inadequate public consultation with communities affected by the project. The movement for Rakhine autonomy and federalism calls for local control of natural resources as a key tenet. If the National League for Democracy (NLD) government moves ahead with the Kyaukphyu projects without addressing these issues, it risks prolonging the conflict with the AA, making repatriation for the Rohingya increasingly risky and unlikely. “The communities hope to have their own laws, their own management, their own regulation of natural resources and government – that’s why the Rakhine people support the AA, because they want their rights,” Tun Kyi, a spokesperson for the community-based organisation the Kyaukphyu Rural Development Association, told ASEAN Today..."