Junta Sets Up Committee to Expedite China-Backed Muse-Mandalay Railway
Myanmar’s junta has formed a national‑level Project Steering Committee to push ahead with construction of the Muse-Mandalay railway, a key segment of both China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC). The move comes as the regime, backed by Chinese pressure, regains control of parts of northern Shan State.
According to an announcement posted on the website of the junta’s Ministry of Information, the committee was established on Aug. 30 with 19 members including ministers and deputy ministers. The date coincided with junta boss Min Aung Hlaing’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tianjin, where the two discussed accelerating BRI and CMEC projects.
The Muse-Mandalay railway would link the border town of Muse with Mandalay via Lashio, Hsipaw, Kyaukme, Nawnghkio and Pyin Oo Lwin, and eventually connect to Kyaukphyu in Rakhine State, giving China direct access to the Indian Ocean.
The committee is chaired by Transport and Communications Minister Mya Tun Oo, who is also contesting a parliamentary seat in Pyin Oo Lwin—home to the junta’s elite military academies— in the junta’s election planned for this month.
The committee’s mandate includes drafting frameworks for government‑to‑government negotiations, inviting domestic and foreign investors, securing concessional development financing, establishing a special‑purpose vehicle company, and reviewing agreements between the regime and that company. The committee would be required to report to the junta’s cabinet and economic committee for approval.
The formation of the steering committee comes as China exerts greater leverage in northern Shan, where ethnic armed groups including the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) have been pressured into relinquishing towns they had captured from the regime, reversing previous gains.
During his August trip to China, Min Aung Hlaing publicly thanked Xi for Beijing’s assistance in helping the junta regain control of Shan State towns.
Yet the railway corridor remains contested. Despite the China-brokered ceasefire agreements, the MNDAA still controls the Lashio-Hseni stretch, while TNLA and Kachin Independence Army troops hold routes around Kutkai and Muse.
While the regime needs to negotiate with ethnic armed groups to proceed with the railway, the project also calls for negotiations between the TNLA, MNDAA and KIA themselves.
Despite these obstacles, the Muse-Mandalay railway is considered a strategic priority for Beijing, which views the project as vital to securing a trade and transport corridor through Myanmar to the Indian Ocean. Analysts believe China will push the project forward regardless of local resistance, underscoring its geopolitical importance.
Source: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/myanmar-china-watch/junta-sets-up-committee-to-expedite-china-backed-muse-mandalay-railway.html
