by HNIN YADANA ZAW
Jade displayed at the show in Naypyitaw earlier this month PHOTO/AP
They are anticipating the multi-billion dollar industry could change once Aung San Suu Kyi’s election-winning National League for Democracy (NLD) party takes office with a promise of clean governance, those in the trade say.
The NLD has said it will bring in rules and competition and crack down on rampant smuggling that deprives the government of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, but sceptics doubt it will be able to do much in the remote, rebel-infested region.
Nay Win Tun, a flamboyant MP and heavyweight in the jade trade with close links to the Myanmar military, says the Chinese have been flooding the trade with cash and equipment, ramping up production and taking over local miners.
“Right now, the market is being ruined by China,” he said in a rare interview at one of his mines near Hpakant, dressed in an orange shirt, sunglasses and a cowboy hat, and surrounded by a uniformed entourage.
“Chinese companies tried to do a joint venture with my company,” added Nay Win Tun. As he spoke, one of his attendants stooped down and tied his shoe-laces.
“I didn’t accept because they’re asking for a share of profit that’s too much.”
About 600 jade mining firms operate on 9000 hectares around the town of Hpakant, but activity is dominated by about 10 firms, among them mostly Chinese-led ventures, according to Ye Htut, the deputy head of Myanmar Gems Enterprise, a department of the Ministry of Mines.
“We are worried about the political changes in the coming months,” said Eik Yin, a site manager for Triple One Company, a China-Myanmar joint venture in Hpakant. But he declined to say whether this was leading to ramped up production.
Because of the stepped-up extractions, thousands of villagers are being forced off their land. Scavengers, or “handpickers” who in their thousands scour mountains of loose earth and rubble for nuggets of jade, are sometimes buried alive, including 114 killed in a landslide last month.
The Sydney Morning Herald for more
via SACW