Shwe Kokko, an enclave on the Myanmar side of the Moei river that forms the border with Thailand some 500 kilometers northwest of Bangkok and 420 kilometers east of Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital, is fast becoming a Chinese town. The total Chinese-built project covers 2,000 acres, or more than 800 hectares. The investment is reputedly backed by the Jilin Yatai Group, a Chinese state company which was registered with the Myanmar Ministry of Planning and Finance in February 2017 under the name Myanmar Yatai International Trading Company. According to a September 18, 2018 report in the Myanmar Times newspaper, the company and Chit Thu signed a partnership agreement in September 2017, organized by the China Federation of Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs. The new mega-project, which locals in Shwe Kokko call “Chinatown”, was launched in April 2017. Well-placed sources based in the Thai-Myanmar border area say that when completed it will include luxury housing, hotels, shopping malls, trade centers, factories, a golf course, casino, and perhaps even an airport. The exact number of Chinese technicians and workers now at Shwe Kokko is a closely guarded secret, but judging from observations derived from driving through the area it is certainly in the hundreds and perhaps even in the thousands. The border enclave is controlled by a local ethnic Karen warlord, Chit Thu, who has made peace with the Myanmar military and converted his armed units into an officially recognized Border Guard Force (BGF).
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