These critical situations are concerning the Letpadaung project developed as the dilemmas of Sino-Myanmar relations until NLD’s government came to power. This research examines different primary sources such as interviews, government documents, statistics, field studies in the project area.

Monywa is the largest city of the Sagaing Division and located at the east bank of the Chindwin river in the central part of Myanmar. There are four large copper mine projects, namely Letpadaung, Sabetaung, Sabetaung South and Kyisintaung in the western part of the town. In 1978, Myanmar started Sabetaung and Kyisintaung mines, which are located next to each other. Letpaduang Copper mine project is located to the southeast of these aforementioned two copper mines. According to the report from the Amnesty, Letpaduang can produce 75% of the copper out of these four projects [Amnesty, 2015. P. 12]. At that time, the Myanmar government managed all projects according to the Socialist economic policy [Maung М., 1964. P. 1189].

In 1996, Myanmar military government opened its economy to the outside world and invited foreign direct investments. Ivanhoe Myanmar Holdings Ltd, a Canadian owned company, had passed the government tests and entered into the joint investments with Minister of Energy (1) [Amnesty, 2015. P. 20]. The agreements were not only for the Letpadaung deposit, but also for all deposits in the Monywa project. However, the existing literatures do not mention these facts, mentioning only the Letpaduang mine. Ivanhoe gave up Monywa projects and sold its 50%70 share to the third party when the US and the West imposed harsh sanctions on Myanmar in 2007. However, the purchaser’s identity of the Ivanhoe shares was shrouded in secrecy from the media [Amnesty, 2015. P. 99].

In March 2010, The Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL) nationalized 7,867 acres of land for the Letpadaung project. When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid a state visit to Myanmar, the UMEHL and Ministry of Mines from Myanmar side and China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) signed a US$ 1,1 billion joint investment for Letpadaung Copper Mine Project [Maung Myoe, 2015. P. 38]. Upon investigating the background of NORINCO, it became apparent that is China’s military-owned company. The same applies to its counterpart UMEHL, that was also backed up by the Myanmar military71. Only Maung Aung Myoe mentioned these facts [Maung Myoe, 2015. P. 39]. A. Clapp Priscilla reported that Wanbao is a Chinese state-owned company. No one knew when the agreement took place, and how did the parties reach a final agreement [Priscilla, 2015].

However, we should not neglect the fact that Wanbao company is a daughter of NORINCO. Before the NORINCO started managing the completed project, Wenbao Mining Ltd founded two subsidiaries such as Myanmar Wenbao Copper Mining Limited and Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Mining Limited [Myanmar Wanbao Company Limited’s webpage]. It could be confusing for researchers because Ivanhoe controlled the whole Monywe project under the same administration when they managed all mines before [Amnesty, 2015. P. 10]. For Letpaduang Mine, Myanmar Wanbao Copper Mining Ltd