The Chinese account for the highest number of tourists to Myitsone, one of the most sought after tourist locales on the confluence of the Mali and Nmai Rivers in Kachin State, northern Burma.

Groups of Chinese tourists drop in weekly to Myitsone (May-Mayli Kha confluence) by crossing Laiza, the China-Burma border gate near China’s Yunnan Province. The area is controlled by the Kachin ceasefire group -the Kachin independence Organization (KIO), residents of Myitsone said.

Among the Chinese visitors, some come to Myitsone as special guests of Burma’s ruling military junta and are guarded by the Burma Army, according to an eyewitness and a resident of Myitsone.

Myitsone residents told KNG today that the number of Chinese visitors have increased significantly following pre-testing activities for the Myitsone hydroelectric power project which began last year.

The project is being implemented by the Burma-Asia World Company and it will generate 3,600 MW of electricity under a joint agreement arrived at last year between the Burmese junta’s Ministry of Electric Power (1) and China’s China Power Investment Corporation (CPI).

Myitsone is the biggest of a total of seven hydroelectric power projects on Mali River, Nmai River and Ayeyawaddy River in Kachin State being constructed under an agreement between the Burmese junta and the Chinese government.

Recently, a group of Chinese inspectors led by Mr. Zhou Chuan-song, the Deputy Chief Engineer from the Space Surveying Company under the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Institute of Surveying, Planning, Design and Research completed five months of inspection in Myitsone, according to a Chinese news story on May 30, 2007 at http://www.cjw.com.cn/index/civilization/detail/20070530/88736.asp.

Both villagers in and around Myitsone and people from Kachin State have urged the junta to put a stop to the Myitsone hydroelectric power project but road construction and inspection is underway in the area, locals said.