Burma

[qualtrough]

On the BBC Website today there was an article about the failure of the embargo. I was interested to read this:

Chinese tourists and traders are pouring in to cities like Mandalay, buying up huge chunks of real estate.

Can the Chinese indeed buy real estate in Burma, or must they operate through proxies or other subterfuges? My take on Burma is that it is orders of magnitude more xenophobic than Thailand, so it would surprise me if foreigners, even Chinese, were allowed freehold ownership of real estate there.

Edited July 16, 2007 by qualtrough

[canuckamuck]

It seems that Chinese might have also financed that fancy new capital city in Myanmar. I have no proof, but a sneaking suspicion that China is becoming, or is, the new boss in Myanmar. Myanmar needs their cash; China sees massive resources and access to the Indian Ocean for exports. I have also heard from a friend (a diplomat) working inside Myanmar that the Chinese are interfering with policy concerning refugees. I wonder what else? It seems that China is getting quite comfortable in that country.

I think certain party line Chinese citizens are working under very different rules than those that would be offered to anyone else.

[uptou]

On the BBC Website today there was an article about the failure of the embargo. I was interested to read this:

Chinese tourists and traders are pouring in to cities like Mandalay, buying up huge chunks of real estate.

Can the Chinese indeed buy real estate in Burma, or must they operate through proxies or other subterfuges? My take on Burma is that it is orders of magnitude more xenophobic than Thailand, so it would surprise me if foreigners, even Chinese, were allowed freehold ownership of real estate there.

i know most of the jade in burma is controlled by the chinese,& has been for centuries.

one burmese freind told me that mexicans are not allowed into burma??

[phazey]

Wish i could reply, but i should be sensible, hope you guys understand.

I shall however, check up on the Mexican thing. i find that "odd".

[kat]

It's fairly evil. There is no real estate "market" per se, because there is a major scorched earth campaign policy being carried out by the military junta. Ethnic minorities in Eastern Burma are literally being terrorized, tortured, murdered, starved, and sent to relocation camps if they don't flee in terror. The military then installs outposts in ethnic villages, and moves the military and family there. They then establish houses, fake land titles from SPDC (state controlled) village land offices, and sell it off to the highest bidders. An increasing number of Thai business people are also getting involved in the action in the villages close to the border.

The Chinese have been partners in carving up Burma for some time. They prop up the murderous military junta, enjoy the highest status among the governement elite, and are among some of the highest ranking herion/drug kingpins actually own the most prime land and ports. This is how it works in a nutshell: ethnic cleansing, brutal murder, rape, and terroizing, drug and sex trafficking, fake land documents, and drug money laundering through land and property acquisition.

In the cities, like Mandalay, which is almost all taken over by the Chinese now, they set up fake "real estate" companies that basically operate as the money laundering machine for drug money and illegal documents on stolen land. I know this because I lived in Thailand for 4 years to conduct research on land confiscation in Burma, and extensively interviewed refugees, migrants, and democracy dissidents who had been displaced, terrorized, and tortued by the junta and their Chinese counterparts.

The issue of whether on not this is because of the embargo is quite debatable, even among those who work on Burma full time for years, becasue this process of ethnic cleansing and Chinese take over has been occuring beforehand. It's a lot more evil and complex than to say: embargo/bad, investment/good.

[MrSquigle]

I bought a time share unit over there.

[Briggsy]

You are a little behind on the news. Large chunks of Northern Burma are now de facto China. Cities such as Lashio are run by Chinese government officials.

[retirednavyman]

I bought a time share unit over there.

Wow, what a shame, guess you'll just have to suck it up and bite the bullet on that one!

[Tilokarat]

I remember the words of one British official, who was the Chief Commissioner of the Shan States Federation: 'if we permit the Chinese into Burma, they will turn it into a Chinese garden'. And that is what is happening in northern Burma today.

As many people have noticed, the Thai and Lao governments have recently signed agreements with China to develop the transportation systems in both countries. China wants to have road and rail connexions between Peking and Singpore to protect the oil that is transported through the Straits of Malacca and to exert its growing economic and military influence in Southeast Asia. The problem with this strategy is that Malaysia and Singapore are in the way; therefore, watch for China to try and get a canal built across the Khra peninsula so that they can bypass the Straits. Bangkok would turn into a Chinese port.

Possibly northern and northern eastern Thai would become like northern Burma, as China creates their old tributary system in which the inferior, ignorant barbarians would have to pay tribute to China every 3-5 years. Well, it would be a more modern diplomatic system than that, but China would not appreciate any other nation interfering in its sphere of influence. On another forum, the China news agency reported that there joint military exercises between China and Thailand were just completed in Kwangtung Province in the south of China. (China already has intelligence bases in the islands off the Burma coast, which bothers India no end).

China is pouring a lot of money into Thailand now, and the big Sino-Thai Bangkok families are part of the growing interest of China in Thailand (and Laos).

I think that I am off-topic, but in British Burma the Chettyiar money lenders were let into the country, but not the Chinese.

[canuckamuck]

China must be quite pleased with Thailand becoming a dictatorship then. I imagine there has been some interesting conversations between Sonthi's office and Beijing.

[siam-i-am]

China must be quite pleased with Thailand becoming a dictatorship then. I imagine there has been some interesting conversations between Sonthi's office and Beijing.

But not as many as before take over. Job done, move on

[Johpa]

China must be quite pleased with Thailand becoming a dictatorship then.

I daresay that Beijing has been fairly happy with the actions of its most southern monthorn for many decades now, much easier than all those embarrassing actions needed to Sinify Tibet. Burma is also unraveling more in line with Beijing's Thai policy of co-opting the resident elite.

And as the Tibetans know, resistance is futile because those billions of Chinese consumers are more important to the corporations of the world than are tribals in Burma. And ethnic Tais are not placed all that far removed from such tribial nuisances.

Chaiyo!

Edited July 17, 2007 by Johpa