“To understand China’s top priority in Myanmar, forget Beijing’s involvement in the country’s sputtering peace process, or efforts to restart its backed but now suspended 3.9 billion USD hydroelectric dam, or even securing rights to extract copper at the locally resisted mine outside of Mandalay…these are all subordinate interests to what China really wants in Myanmar: economic and strategic access to the Indian Ocean through a deep-water port at Kyaukpyu in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, a crucial link in Beijing’s 1 trillion USD Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).”
Source: Myanmar risks falling into a China debt trap | Asia Times