"On January 12th, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Myanmar issued a statement warning Myanmar that if it failed to resolve the dispute over the stalled Myitsone Hydropower Dam project in Myanmar’s northern state of Kachin, “confidence of Chinese entrepreneurs in investing in Myanmar” would be “seriously hurt” (Global Times, February 21). A fortnight prior to this statement, the PRC Ambassador to Myanmar, Hong Liang, visited the Kachin capital of Myitkyina, where he met local Kachin groups and religious leaders to win their support for revival of the controversial Chinese-backed dam project. Hong reportedly warned them against opposing Chinese projects, including the Myitsone project, in the Kachin state (The Irrawaddy, January 9). PRC officials have reportedly been visiting the homes of Kachin villagers to canvass support for the project (The Irrawaddy, September 13, 2018). The $3.6 billion Myitsone dam project is a Sino-Myanmar joint venture: Myanmar’s Ministry of Electric Power and a domestic conglomerate, Asia World, as well as the PRC’s state-run China Power Investment Corporation, signed a memorandum of understanding in 2006; work on the project began subsequently in December 2009. In September 2011, amid protests over the Myitsone Dam’s social and environmental costs, Myanmar’s then-President Thein Sein announced the suspension of the project, citing the “will of the people” (Mizzima, September 30, 2011). Since coming to power in January 2016, Myanmar’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) has avoided making a decision on the project’s future. But with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi due to meet Chinese leaders on the sidelines of the upcoming Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, where the Myitsone project is bound to come up for discussion, the NLD government will need to decide the fate of the project before Suu Kyi leaves for Beijing (The Irrawaddy, April 5). This will not be an easy decision, as the government is caught between mounting pressure from the PRC and calls from the people of Myanmar to cancel the project..."