China's ambassador to Burma, Yang Houlan, has denied a recent news report indicating that a planned train line running from Yunnan to Burma's Rakhine (Arakan) coast had been cancelled. According to China's state-owned Xinhua news agency, “Yang denied the abandonment of the project by the Chinese side” when asked about the project during a press conference in Yangon on Thursday.
According to Xinhua, a Burmese economic official who didn’t wish to be identified confirmed to Xinhua that the Kyaukpyu-Kunming rail project has not been cancelled: "I understand that it needs time to continue coordination," the anonymous official told Xinhua.
On July 22nd the English-language service of Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) ran an article entitled “Chinese railway project in Myanmar cancelled, official says.” The article quoted an unnamed “senior official” reportedly from Burma's government who said that the project was not going ahead.
"No progress within three years after signing the MoU between us, so the project was to be cancelled," DPA quoted the official as saying. "Also, China made no request to sign another contract," he added.
"This is because we care about the people's desires. Most people view the project as having more disadvantages than advantages," DPA quoted the official as saying.
According to DPA, both Burma and China have failed to move forward with the 1,215-kilometre long rail line in the three years since the two governments signed an MOU for the project in April 2011. The rail line was designed to run from Yunnan to Arakan State’s Kyaukpyu seaport and follow the same route as the twin oil and gas pipelines that were recently built by a Chinese state-owned firm.
