" Photo: Oliver SlowThe site of the Myitsone dam project in Myanmar’s Kachin State. Photo: Oliver Slow The site of the Myitsone dam project in Myanmar’s Kachin State. Photo: Oliver Slow Myanmar’s decision-makers have interacted with Chinese partners on infrastructure and investment projects in a seemingly dichotomous manner in recent years. But in a sense, their decisions reflect a practical logic that takes into account the concerns of both the communities affected and the population at large. The abrupt suspension in 2011 of a billion-dollar hydropower dam project at Myitsone in Kachin State, and more recent agreements entered into by the current government to bring Myanmar closer into the orbit of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, present contrasting examples of Myanmar’s approach to Chinese projects. They also illustrate the practical logic that characterises that approach. Myanmar hit the pause button in its infrastructure deals with China in September 2011, when the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) government led by former president Thein Sein suspended the Myitsone dam project for the duration of his administration. That administration ended in March 2016, and the question of whether construction should be resumed, and of whether something else could be done with the project, has become a heated and emotional issue..."