The pipelines, constructed by the China National Petroleum Corp, will run from the Burmese port of Kyaukpyu to Kunming, capital of China’s Yunnan Province, the publication reported on Monday.

The pipelines will cut about 4,000km off the route tankers carrying Middle East oil and gas for China now have to take, through the Strait of Malacca. An estimated 85 percent of China’s imported energy requirements will be carried by the pipelines.

Sources at the Sino-Burma border say China has started to move materials for the pipelines project into Burma.

“I have seen Chinese containers for the pipelines project cross onto the Burma side these days,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese observer based in the border area.

Analysts believe China sees geopolitical possibilities as well as economic benefits in building the pipelines through Burma. Beijing is expanding its navy in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, at least five Chinese-assisted monitoring facilities are in Burma.

“Close to the key shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, Myanmar [Burma] could help China to extend its military reach into a region of vital importance to Asian economies,” the Institute has noted.

“The bulk of Japan’s Middle East oil imports, for example, pass through the area. China also wanted to check India’s growing strategic influence,” it said.

The report on the pipelines appeared in The China Security Journal as the Burmese junta’s No 2, Dep Sen-Gen Maung Aye, began a visit to China.

In a report on Maung Aye’s visit, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency noted that Sino-Burmese trade had increased 26.4 percent, to a total value of US $2.626 billion, in 2008. Burma imported Chinese goods worth $1.978 billion and China’s investment in Burma amounted to $1.331 billion.

Analysts say Maung Aye’s talks with Chinese leaders in Beijing will cover more than bilateral trade. Political issues and military ties are expected to figure on the agenda.

It is felt that the international concern over the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi could also be an issue. China has appealed for dialogue and national reconciliation in Burma.

Another Chinese concern is the increasing tension between Burma’s ceasefire ethnic armed groups and the Burmese military. Ahead of the 2010 elections in Burma, the junta wants all ceasefire groups to become “border guard forces.”

Ethnic groups including the United Wa State Army, the Kokang army and the Kachin Independence Army based on the Sino-Burmese border have not yet accepted the junta’s plan for them. Under the plan, the Burmese military would have command of the proposed border guard forces.

The junta has given the ceasefire groups until the end of June to accept the plan.

Observers say a standoff between ceasefire groups and the Burmese army in border areas could pose a threat to the pipelines project.