The security of the Sino-Burmese oil and gas pipeline cannot be guaranteed, three years after it was started, because of renewed fighting in Kachin State, the Russian Interfax news agency reported last week. Beijing hopes the project will reroute African and Middle Eastern oil, bypassing the chokepoint Malacca Strait. China National Petroleum Corp says the project will open on schedule in 2014. “An explosion could easily be caused by a stray bullet … causing it—and the surrounding area—significant damage†Michael Oxlade, senior security consultant at security firm Westminster International, told Interfax.

Source: Irrawaddy.org

Renewed fighting?