Booming Port Trade Brings Countries Closer

By Luo Rongchan， Xie Jin & Li Chunlin

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Booming Port Trade Brings Countries Closer

By Luo Rongchan， Xie Jin & Li Chunlin

For visitors to Ruili, a major crossing point on the Chinese side the China-Myanmar border in western Yunnan Province, a common sight is that of men and women sporting stunning golden cheeks. Citizens of Myanmar regularly apply a special type of sun block and cooling ointment to their faces, rendering a peculiar yet beautiful result. Recently, many Chinese in Ruili have begun embracing this style themselves, evidence of deepening connections between the two countries in this border city of 140,000. Other evidence lies in the constant fow of cars with Myanmar number plates, as well as bilingual newspapers, advertisements and leaflets all designed to facilitate growing trade and interaction between citizens of both nations.

Ruili Golden Port

Te Dai, an ethnic minority whose population stretches across Southeastern China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, call Ruili Mengmao, meaning “misty green place”, in reference to its tropical climate. As a major trading post on the Southern Silk Road hundreds of years ago, its role as home to traders from two countries is nothing new. Multiple ethnic groups are spread across the border and sharing local resources is simply a part of daily life.

Tens of thousands of people cross the China-Myanmar border at Ruili each day. According to customs statistics, cargo imported and exported in Ruili in 2015 amounted to 4.148 million tons, valued at 27.75 billion yuan（US$4.3 billion）, and is showing strong signs of growth.

Lian Dong, the director of the Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, and President of the Ruili Huatong Electric Equipment Co. Ltd., came to Dehong - the Prefecture in which Ruili lies - in 1985. At the time, he was only 17 years old, having grown up in Zhejiang Province near China's eastern coast, and hoped to fnd work by responding to a job vacancy he heard about from a relative.

￥27.75bn

Total value of the cargo that passed

through the Ruili border in 2015， weighing in at a total of 4.148 million tons

Past five Lingcang Border Economic and Trade Fairs （LCBETF）

As a businessman from Wenzhou in this border city, Lian Dong has seen numerous business opportunities emerge afer the implementation of various trade-friendly policies. On a personal level he has expanded his appliance business from the sale of fve diferent products to as many as 5,000. He sells cost efective, high quality products made in China to consumers in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and other countries in Southeast Asia.

Ke Maohmin, a Myanmar national who sells jewelry at the local China-Myanmar Friendship Street, has lived in Ruili for nearly 20 years. His business supports his family of seven.

“My counter grew first from one meter to two, then three and fnally four meters,” he explains in standard Mandarin. His life has grown much more stable since he began selling jewelry, he adds.

The bustling Ruili Border Jade Jewelry Market.

Myanmar nationals working at the Yinxiang Motorcycle Factory in Ruili.

Due to the fast development of border trade, Ke Maohmin can easily travel back to Muse - just across the border from Ruili in Myanmar - to purchase supplies for his business.

“Kunming World Horticultural Expo Garden, Dali Erhai, Lijiang Yulong Mountain... I have been to many places in Yunnan,” he says. “Here, I live a comfortable life.”

To deepen bilateral economic relations and regulate money exchange between the two sides, the first China-Myanmar Currency Exchange Center was set up in the Jiegao Border Trade Zone on March 31, 2015.

The first China-Myanmar Currency Exchange Center was set up March 31, 2015 in Jiegao, a town 6 km southeast of Ruili which is host to an important Border Trade Zone. Te Ruili government built the Service Center for Foreign Personnel to ofer a one-stop service to Myanmar citizens, providing residence permit and employment papers to applicants so as to protect the legal interests of Myanmar citizens in China.

Mengding Qingshuihe Port

Visitors to Mengding Township in Lincang Prefecture's Gengma County find themselves immersed in densely packed fields of mango, banana and sugarcane. The area has proved to be another crucial location in China-Myanmar trade.

Qingshuihe Port in Mengding is bustling with foreign vehicles carrying sugarcane and other cargoes and businesspeople from both sides of the border. Customs staf are busy with border clearance, inspection and quarantine.

Asa, a Myanmar citizen who lives just across the border from Mengding, sells pumpkins in China. He carries various crops on his farm vehicle across the border to sell, and accepts Chinese Renminbi as payment. Tere are many businesspeople like him in the area who have profted from increasing ease in cross-border trade in the area.

Recently, a fruit and vegetable distribution center with a capacity of fve million tons was officially opened in Hupan County in Myanmar by the Lincang-Mengding-Baiheng Trading Co. Ltd., a local Chinese firm. It was the first project invested in by enterprises registered in the Gengma （Mengding） Border Economic Cooperation Zone, and is the biggest distribution center of its kind in Myanmar's northern Shan State. It is said that the company will develop plant and animal cultivation in Myanmar. Moreover, they will invest to build supporting facilities such as a logistics area at the port, so as to further improve its facilities.

Te Lincang Border Economic and Trade Fair has been held for fve straight years since 2011. It attracts government officials and enterprises from Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Laos and other countries and regions, fostering cumulative trade worth 2.57 billion yuan （US$400 million）.

With improvement in basic infrastructure, mainly in transportation, water conservancy, energy and ecology, the port has deepened its trade exchanges and cooperation with Myanmar.

Tengchong Houqiao Port

Houqiao Port, in the western part of Tengchong, is an important passageway from China to Myanmar and India. As a designated port for imported grain, the port has seen great improvements in infrastructure in recent years. Te international channel of Kunming-Baoshan-Longling （Zhen'an）, a 587 km long highway, has been completed, a 58 km secondary road between Tengchong and Houqiao is planned, and a 126 km secondary road from Houqiao to Myitkyina has been completed.

Improvements in infrastructure have brought economic improvements in other areas, too. About 500 meters from the sign for China Tengchong Houqiao Port, an international shopping mall is in its early stages of construction. Chuan Lei, director of the zone's management committee, says the shopping mall was among the frst batch of projects to emerge and other supporting projects are on the way.

Chuan said the cooperation zone gives full play to the port's advantages, with a plan to assemble domestic products for export and build a base of processing for motorcycles, other machinery and electrical equipment for transit trade. By 2025, it will become an important industrial cluster and the export-oriented industrial base of Western Yunnan. International and domestic tourism is also seen as a priority, further boosting the interdependence between China and Myanmar in the region.

Along the border between China and Myanmar, each port reflects a different style. Yet, all the ports provide a window for China-Myanmar trade and other exchanges. Through them, two peoples have gotten to know each other and developed cross-border communities. Apart from economic and trade exchanges, the area has different charms based on integration of different cultures and civilization, adding color to the bustling border economy.