The NLD says it is going to introduce rules and competition and crack down on rampant smuggling that deprives the federal government of a whole lot of thousands and thousands of dollars in tax revenue, but skeptics doubt it is going to have the ability to do much within the distant, rebel-held region.
Nay Win Tun, a flamboyant lawmaker and heavyweight within the jade trade with close ties to Myanmar’s military, says the Chinese are flooding the trade with money and equipment, increasing production and poaching local miners.
“Right now, the market is being ruined by China,” he said in a rare interview at one in every of his mines near Hpakant, wearing an orange shirt, sunglasses and a cowboy hat, surrounded by a uniformed entourage.
“Chinese companies tried to form a joint venture with my company,” Nay Win Tun added.
As he said this, one in every of his servants bent down and tied his shoelaces.
“I didn’t agree because they wanted an excessive amount of of the profit,” he said.
Right now, the market is being ruined by China
According to Ye Htut, deputy head of Myanmar Gems Enterprise, a department of the Ministry of Mines.
“We are concerned about political changes in the coming months,” said Eik Yin, construction manager at Triple One Company, a Sino-Burmese three way partnership in Hpakant.
He declined to comment on whether this could result in increased production.
Due to increased extractions, hundreds of ethnic villagers are being forced to go away their lands. Scavengers, or “gatherers”, hundreds of whom scour mountains of loose earth and rubble for lumps of jade, are sometimes buried alive, including 114 killed in a landslide last month.
Many scavengers are hooked on drugs.
Aung Ko Oo, director of local mining company Thukha Yadana, said mainland Chinese corporations have stepped up operations because the starting of the 12 months.
“They mostly came in joint ventures with local businesses [ethnic] Chinese companies,” he said. “Our companies have already sold two six-acre plots to the Chinese. We need money.”
Myanmar miners say they cannot stand up to Chinese tycoons who are buying influence and investing in modern heavy machinery such as Caterpillar and Komatsu excavators. Processions of giant trucks with eight-foot-tall wheels are a common sight in the area, and they are all owned by Chinese companies.
According to traders, these companies have effectively cornered the market by selling directly to visiting Chinese buyers they already know.
A Myanmar Gems Enterprise official said Chinese companies co-opted local military commanders to secure mining concessions on their behalf, knowing they were too powerful for the local government to deny them.
“Military officials have already concluded agreements with Chinese companies to transfer facilities to them,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Sometimes they don’t change the owner’s name. No one dares to touch you [these] website.”
Military officials were not immediately available for comment, and Zaw Htay, a senior official in the president’s office, declined to comment.
Military officers already have agreements with Chinese companies to provide them with locations
Locals claim that much of the jade is smuggled into China every year. Jade is a status symbol in China, widely believed to bring good luck, wealth and longevity.
According to official data, China – the world’s largest jade market – imported only about $540 million worth of jade from Myanmar in the first nine months of this year. The NGO Global Witness estimated the value of jade production in Myanmar at $31 billion in 2014.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she was not aware of any allegations of Chinese companies’ involvement in jade smuggling, but added that the country opposes such illegal activity.
An Hpakant regional police officer said hundreds of trucks were hidden in the Kachin jungle, with several of them transporting undeclared jade rocks from Hpakant towards the border with China each night.
“There are nine or 10 trucks moving at night,” the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Since this is an army-dominated area, the Chinese are working with the army to bring trucks to Hpakant.”
In its election manifesto, the NLD, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, promised tighter scrutiny of investments when it replaces the present government early next 12 months. However, given the military’s political power and vast network of interests and influence, policing the jade industry could also be unimaginable.
“Even this government cannot control this region because of the military’s dominance,” said Eik Yin, Triple One’s manager. “So far, Aung San Suu Kyi has not been able to influence the military, so I don’t think the NLD government can either.”
