Shwe Kokko Myaing ( my, ရွှေကုက္ကိုမြိုင်; ),
commonly known as Shwe Kokko ( my, ရွှေကုက္ကို), is a village in
Myawaddy Township
Myawaddy Township ( ksw, ရါမတံၤကီၢ်ဆၣ်, Phlone ; my, မြဝတီမြို့နယ်) is a township of Myawaddy District in the Kayin State of Burma (Myanmar). It is the only township in Myawaddy District. The a ...
in
Myawaddy District
Myawaddy District (, Phlone:, my, မြဝတီခရိုင်) is a district of the Kayin State in Myanmar. It consists of a single township composed of 50 villages.
Townships
The district contains the following townships:
*Myawaddy Town ...
in the
Kayin State
Kayin State ( my, ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, ; kjp, ဖၠုံခါန်ႋကၞင့်, italics=no; ksw, ကညီကီၢ်စဲၣ်, ), also known by the endonyms Kawthoolei and Karen State, is a state of Myanmar. The ...
of south-east
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. Shwe Kokko lies on the left (western) bank, opposite site of
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
by the
Moei River
The Moei River (, , , my, သောင်ရင်းမြစ်; ) is a tributary of the Salween River. Unlike most rivers in Thailand, the Moei River flows north in a northwest direction. It originates in Phop Phra District, Tak Province, flow ...
(Thaungyin River). The village is north of
Myawaddy
Myawaddy ( Phlone ;myမဝတဳ my, မြဝတီ; th, เมียวดี; ; ) is a town in southeastern Myanmar, in Kayin State, close to the border with Thailand. Separated from the Thai border town of Mae Sot by the Moei River (Thau ...
.
Shwe Kokko is home to the headquarters of the Kayin Border Guard Force (BGF). As of May 2022, 1,225 Chinese nationals were legally residing in Shwe Kokko, and thousands of illegal Chinese workers migrate to the village for work.
Shwe Kokko is a Chinese organized crime hub due to the Burmese government's limited reach and oversight in this border area.
Shwe Kokko is the destination of many Asian human trafficking victims (from countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and India ) who have reported being forced to work in Shwe Kokko in Chinese-run online scam operations, lured by the prospect of romance and well-paying jobs.
In September 2022, over 300 Indian nationals were reported to be held hostage in Shwe Kokko.
Shwe Kokko New City project
Shwe Kokko is home to Shwe Kokko New City (; ), a mega-project under construction as a partnership between Chit Lin Myaing Company and Yatai International Holdings Group (Yatai IHG), which is a Chinese-owned regional
online gambling
Online gambling is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for the Liechtenstein International Lottery i ...
operation.
Chit Lin Myaing is owned by the Kayin State
Border Guard Force, and will receive 30% of profits from this development, with the remainder of profits going to Yatai.
The US$15 billion development will serve as a playground for Chinese gamblers near the Burmese-Thai border, and will eventually include casinos, luxury villas, an entertainment complex, supermarkets, department stores, a police station, an airport, cargo depots, a 1,200-room hotel, an industrial zone, and a wildlife sanctuary.
Despite claiming to be a
special economic zone
A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...
(SEZ), Shwe Kokko is not an officially sanctioned SEZ, which are established in accordance with Myanmar's SEZ laws.
China's government distanced itself from the project; in October 2020, China's ambassador to Myanmar, Chen Hai, clarified this project was not part of the
Belt and Road Initiative
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), formerly known as One Belt One Road ( zh, link=no, 一带一路) or OBOR for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 1 ...
.
Allegations of Chinese settlers' colony
As of June 2020, the Burmese government has established a national tribunal to investigate irregularities surrounding this development project. The project was driven by Chinese investors forced to leave
Sihanoukville, following a Cambodian crackdown on illegal casino activities.
Multiple casinos began illegal operations in Shwe Kokko in 2019.
The project has been the subject of significant controversy, owing to concerns over the absence of official approval, illegal land confiscations, plans to build a casino, criminal activities, money laundering, and local sentiment.
Construction commenced in 2017 despite the lack of government approval from the
Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) for the entire project, which will cover over .
MIC had only granted permission for the construction of 59 luxury villas on 22.5 acres of land, but the actual construction has far outpaced the permitted development.
The project has also utilized thousands of Chinese workers, despite claims that it would generate job opportunities for locals.
Remarks
Populated places in Kayin State
{{Kayin-geo-stub