China opens a rail line that connects to the Indian Ocean through Myanmar

On the Chinese side of the border, a new train connection connecting China to the Indian Ocean via Myanmar opened on August 25.

The rail line runs from Chengdu, Sichuan Province's capital, to Lincang, a prefecture-level city in China's Yunnan Province, directly across from Chin Shwe Haw, Myanmar's northeastern Shan State's border trading town.

China will be able to transship cargo from Singapore Port via Myanmar thanks to the rail route.
Cargo will be transported from Singapore to Yangon.
It will subsequently be delivered by road to Chin Shwe Haw in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone, and finally by rail to Chengdu from Lincang.
According to the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, the train journey from Lincang to Chengdu will take three days.

This is the first route connecting western China to the Indian Ocean.
It will also cut the time it takes to transport freight into Yunnan Province, which is landlocked.
On the Myanmar side, the route will pass through Mandalay, Lashio, and Hsenwi.

The route is projected to become China and Myanmar's lifeline for international trade, as well as a source of revenue for Myanmar's military dictatorship.

Meanwhile, as part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), plans are on to establish a border economic cooperation zone in Chin Shwe Haw, which will serve as an intermediary economic hub for Yunnan Province's imports and exports.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, Yang Haodong, the secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in Lincang, said at the railroad's opening ceremony last week that Lincang would continue to take responsibility for the BRI and the "Economic Pivot" and wished to write a new chapter in the two countries' "pauk-phaw" friendship.

From August 26 to 30, the Lincang-Lashio border trade expo was also held.
The exhibition is the second of its type, and it will feature 172 Chinese enterprises and 27 Myanmar companies.