The China-Myanmar Economic Corridor and the Limits of China’s BRI Agency
February 4th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a report on how CMEC and other Chinese business activities in Myanmar show how exposed China is to escalating conflict risks, and offer insight to the role it is playing in the ongoing civil war: Since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, the country has experienced a resurgence of political violence. Fighting […]
Read more »Ruili on Edge: A Chinese Border City Loses Its Mojo
January 29th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, an article on how a onetime boom-town has struggled to adapt to domestic policy shifts, anti-fraud campaigns, and the escalating civil war across the border in Myanmar: On January 5, the 2024 Ruili China and Muse Myanmar Cross-Border Marathon came to an end. This event, marked by its distinctive “One Marathon, Two […]
Read more »Rare Earth In Myanmar: Economic Opportunity Or Environmental Costs?
January 3rd, 2025
Via Eurasia Review, a look at Myanmar’s rare earth mining industry: Myanmar’s rare earth mining industry sits at the intersection of short-term opportunity, environmental degradation, and geopolitical conflict, shaping the future of local communities and global rare earth supply chains. Key takeaways Some local communities stand to gain economically from rare earth mining, which generates […]
Read more »Drugs, Scams and Sin: Myanmar’s War Has Made It the Global Crime Capital
January 1st, 2025
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how Myanmar has become a magnet for criminal syndicates, particularly from China, destabilizing law enforcement across much of Asia: The flower fields stretch out from the mountain village along most every road — fluttering patchworks of white and pink and purple. The beauty in this corner […]
Read more »Myanmar Civil War Casts Shadow over China’s CMEC Corridor
December 16th, 2024
Via Geopolitical Monitor, a look at the shadow that Myanmar’s civil war is casting over China’s CMEC Corridor: Over the past decade, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investments in Myanmar have focused on the development of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), a major infrastructure project designed to connect China’s Yunnan Province to the Indian Ocean via […]
Read more »China’s Wagner? Beijing Establishes Private Security Company in Myanmar
December 2nd, 2024
Via Geopolitical Monitor, an article on China’s use of a private security company in Myanmar: China is collaborating with the Myanmar military junta to establish a joint security company to protect Chinese investments and personnel in Myanmar. On October 22, 2024, the junta formed a working committee to draft a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the initiative, […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.