Wen says China, Myanmar should stick to their word

BEIJING: China and Myanmar should keep their word to implement joint projects, China's premier was quoted as telling a top official from the country's southern neighbour, hinting at unresolved differences over a Chinese-backed dam.

Myanmar's new civilian President Thein Sein last month suspended the $3.6 billion Myitsone dam being built and financed by Chinese companies in northern Myanmar after weeks of public outrage over the project in the country also known as Burma.

"Implementing important China-Myanmar cooperative projects is in the interests of both countries," Premier Wen Jiabao told Myanmar's Vice-President Tin Aung Myint Oo, according to the People's Daily, the newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party.

"The two countries should earnestly work to implement the consensus on projects reached by the countries' leaders, fulfill their promises ... and guarantee the healthy development of China-Myanmar cooperation."

The Myanmar vice-president was visiting China with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ahead of the China-ASEAN Expo in the southern city of Nanning.

He made no mention of Myitsone, but officials from Myanmar had said earlier that the issue would be raised.

Myanmar's vice-president said his country valued cooperative relations, the newspaper said, and would "proactively look for ways to resolve issues".

The shelving of the project, agreed to by Myanmar's then military rulers in 2006, was seen as an unprecedented challenge to China's extensive economic interests in Myanmar, long shunned by the West for its poor human rights record.

In recent years, Myanmar's leaders have embraced investment from China as a market for its energy-related resources and to counterbalance the impact of Western sanctions.

While China and Myanmar have close economic and political ties, including the building of oil and gas pipelines into southwestern China, there are also deep mutual suspicions.

The Myitsone dam at the confluence of the Mali and Nmai rivers would flood an area about the size of Singapore. Many residents and environmentalists have opposed its construction.

Chinese officials have called the project environmentally safe and a boon to development in Myanmar.