UWSA Facilitating China’s Damming of Salween River in Eastern Myanmar: Report

Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic armed group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), is paving the way for China’s damming of the Salween River despite widespread opposition from local communities and civil society, according to human rights watchdog Shan State Frontline Investment Monitor (STFIM).

The UWSA seized control of upper Tangyan Township in northern Shan State after ousting the junta-aligned Man Pang militia in early July.

The takeover left the UWSA in control of the western bank of Salween River, opposite the 225-megawatt Mantong Dam project being constructed on the Nam Ma River, a tributary of the Salween in the Wa Self-Administered Region.

Mantong Dam is a joint venture between China’s state-owned Hydrochina Corporation and the Burmese military crony-owned International Group of Entrepreneurs (IGE), the rights watchdog stated in its report released Thursday.

The joint venture includes construction nearby of the 1,200 MW Naung Pha Dam on the Salween’s mainstream.

Both dams are Build Operate Transfer (BOT) projects which plan to export at least 50% of their generated power to China.

Then vice president Xi Jinping signed a memo of understanding for both dams during his visit to Naypyitaw in 2009 while the construction deal was inked five years later under Thein Sein’s government.

However, local communities, civil society groups, political parties and armed resistance organizations along the length of the Salween River have opposed the damming for years, warning of immeasurable social and environmental impacts on the millions of people living in the Salween basin.

Specific concerns about the Naung Pha Dam include the danger of earthquakes being triggered by the weight of water in its reservoir. Northeast Shan State is an earthquake-prone area, and the dam is located close to several fault lines. The Chinese government itself suspended plans to builds 13 dams on the Salween (Nu) River in China in 2004 due to the danger of earthquakes as the river runs directly along major fault lines, the watchdog group said.

It also said the UWSA has catered to China’s interests in letting the Mantong Dam project proceed and is almost certain to expedite construction of Naung Pha Dam now the project zone has fallen under its control.

STFIM reported that UWSA troops led 12 Chinese businessmen on a tour of the Naung Pha Dam site during the second week of August. The group said recent satellite images show work is ongoing to construct dam foundations on both sides of the Nam Ma River.

The watchdog urged Beijing to heed overwhelming public opposition to the Salween dams and immediately scrap plans to dam the vital artery feeding eastern Myanmar.