China is disavowing any connection to a new ‘China Town’ casino hub being developed on Myanmar’s border with Thailand.

Last month, Asean Today reported on growing concerns regarding the Shwe Kokko development project in Myanmar’s southeastern Karen state, near the city of Myawaddy. The Chinese developer behind Shwe Kokko, a Hong Kong-registered firm called Yatai International Holding Group (IHG), pitched the plan in 2019 as occupying 12k hectares with a budget of US$15b.

While Myanmar’s government approved the development of some ‘high-end villas’ in the region, it never gave IHG permission to build casinos. Myanmar approved foreigners-only casino legislation in 2019 but has yet to issue the necessary regulations to permit casino operations.

Yet locals claim there are already up to 17 casinos in the Myawaddy area being run as a partnership between Chinese nationals and the Border Guard Force (BGF), a local militia group supported by Myanmar’s military. Shwe Kokko is a joint venture of an IHG subsidiary and Chit Linn Myaing, a Myanmar firm that owns the land on which the development is rising, and which features a former BGF officer as director.