China has become Burma’s second-largest trading partner with growth of nearly 38 percent in the first nine months of 2007.

The bulk of the US $1.43 billion trade was exports from China into Burma,

according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.

China sent goods to Burma worth $1.21 billion, while it imported $220 million of Burmese goods.

This was due to growing “neighborly and friendly cooperative ties” between the two countries, said Xinhua.

Analysts note that for the first time, China appears to be acknowledging that it does still import timber from Burma, despite reported bans across the land border with China’s Yunnan Province.

“China’s exports to Myanmar are based primarily on value-added products which are mainly textile, steel and oil refined products, while its imports from Myanmar are led by primary products such as raw wood, processed timber, natural rubber and cane products,” said Xinhua, quoting an official at its embassy in Burma.

Legislation to ban timber imports from Burma is presently moving through the U.S. Congress.

Chinese engineering companies have also “played a positive and boosting role in Myanmar’s economic development,” Xinhua said, quoting the economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, Tang Hai.

The trade figures coincide with a just-finished trade fair in the Chinese town of Ruili, on the Yunnan border with Burma, which Xinhua said also involved Thailand, India and Bangladesh.

The official Chinese news agency said that 100 Burmese companies took part.

Thailand remains Burma¦’s biggest trading partner, due to Bangkok’¦s large purchases of gas. China supplants Singapore which falls to the third-largest trading partner position with two-way trade for the 2006-7 financial year ended last March totaling $1.21 billion.

Regime Turns to India, China for IT Development

Burma is increasing its reliance on India and China for technology as other sources have been cut off by Western sanctions.

The two neighbors are cooperating with the regime in developing Yadanabon, the so-called cyber city near Mandalay.

China has already developed a cross-border fiber optics link with Yadanabon, and India is set to follow, according to the director of India¡¦s Institute for Topical Studies in Chennai, B. Raman.

India and China have been competing with each other not only in helping Myanmar’¦s military junta in the exploitation of its vast gas reserves in the Arakan area, but also in strengthening its IT capability,¨ Raman said in a report. “The [Burmese] junta, which is keen to develop an IT capability which will not be dependent on Western companies, has sought the help of India and China. Both have responded positively.¨

India is a noted global developer of computer software, and the Burmese regime wants to tap into this for its so-called cyber city plans, Raman said.

His comments come as the regime announced the opening of the Yadanabon Information and Communication Technology center at a site near the old town of Pyin Oo Lwin about 70 kilometers from Mandalay.

Observers say the location is extraordinarily remote for an “information city.¨

Chin Deaths Illustrate Plight of Illegal Immigrants

The drowning of more than 40 Burmese in a boat accident in the Sea of Andaman on December 20 underlines the surreptitious commercial movement of people out of the impoverished country.

The dead were among more than 90 Chin reportedly being smuggled from southern Burma to Malaysia.

The vessel sank after colliding with a fishing boat, according to news reports.

With refugee camps along the Thai border overloaded, along with reports of exploitation, more people fleeing Malaysia are heading for Malaysia.

According to the Kuala Lumpur government, there are about 25,000 Burmese in Malaysia seeking refugee status, but aid agencies have said the real figure is double that.

Many Burmese are illegal immigrants, hiding from the authorities while being exploited as cheap labor by harsh employers, says the NGO Altsean Burma, which campaigns for better human rights in the 10 countries of Asean.

Large numbers of Burmese are now working illegally in Malaysia’¦s construction and agricultural sectors.

The Malaysian government has turned a blind eye to the influx because the country has a labor shortage, but illegal immigrants have no rights to a minimum wage or basic working conditions.

Some reports say there are more than 1 million illegal migrant workers in Malaysia from various countries in the region.

Malaysia has refused to sign the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which guarantees basic human rights.

Burma is now the largest source of refugees in East Asia.