On January 5, the 2024 Ruili China and Muse Myanmar Cross-Border Marathon got here to an finish. This occasion, marked by its distinctive “One Marathon, Two States” theme, is designed to spotlight the distinctive traits of the border between China’s Yunnan Province and Myanmar’s Shan State. The race as soon as attracted nearly 10,000 participants from more than 30 countries and was declared one of many “Top Ten Outstanding Cases of China’s International Publicity” in 2019. Nevertheless, this yr, worldwide participation was restricted to solely the UK, together with China and Myanmar. Furthermore, the Myanmar phase of the race, which beforehand spanned as much as 12 kilometers, was fully omitted, leaving members to view Myanmar solely from the Chinese language aspect. This adjustment encapsulates the broader struggles going through town of Ruili. Regardless of the worldwide restoration from the COVID-19 pandemic, town has but to reattain its former vitality, and faces lingering financial and social challenges.
Positioned in Yunnan Province’s Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Ruili is a commerce middle and transport hub for the China–Myanmar hall. Elevated to the standing of a nationwide port in 2001, town has witnessed outstanding financial development, with its GDP development price hovering from 8 % to an astonishing 16.9 % at its peak in 2014. As the most important commerce port with Myanmar, Ruili handles 30 percent to 40 percent of China’s commerce with its neighbor, with a commerce quantity of 85.41 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) in 2019. By the identical yr, town’s GDP reached 14.91 billion yuan (round $2 billion) and the core space’s per capita GDP stood at 79,352 yuan ($10,911), exceeding the nationwide common, underpinned by a strong year-on-year import-export development price of 19.1 %.
Coverage Shifts: The Finish of Versatile Regulation
Ruili’s financial takeoff is inseparable from the coverage help offered by increased ranges of presidency. Over the previous three many years, Ruili has benefited from numerous coverage experimentations by the central authorities, resembling its designation as a Nationwide Border Financial Cooperation Zone (1992), a Key Experimental Zone for Opening-Up (2010), and a subdistrict of the Yunnan Pilot Free Commerce Zone (2019). These insurance policies translated into preferential tax rules, state help for upgrades to infrastructure, and most significantly, localized border-crossing preparations for Myanmar nationals. Not like most of China, Ruili applied versatile border controls, permitting Myanmar migrants to work and dwell within the metropolis with out passports or visas. Earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, the border between Ruili and Myanmar was delineated primarily by bamboo fences, ditches, and earth ridges, with few man-made limitations.
The logic of this association was simple: Myanmar’s cheap labor power made Ruili an interesting vacation spot for traders in search of cost-effective operations inside China’s well-developed infrastructure. To leverage this benefit, town developed labor-intensive industrial parks targeted on industries resembling garment manufacturing, meals processing, digital elements, and bike manufacturing. At its peak, Ruili was residence to over 100,000 Myanmar migrants, who shaped the spine of town’s workforce. They stuffed most entry-level positions in catering, housekeeping companies, and enterprise whereas making up practically your complete manufacturing labor power, other than administration roles.
The sudden outbreak of the pandemic allowed central authorities businesses, significantly customs and immigration authorities, to reassert management over border crossings and immigration insurance policies. The as soon as semi-open border was remodeled, bolstered with barbed wire and surveillance cameras, signaling a dramatic shift in coverage. Within the center phases of the pandemic, China’s stringent COVID-19 restrictions compelled thousands of migrant workers to depart the nation. Many extra had been unable to remain as their permits couldn’t be renewed. By early 2023, the variety of Myanmar staff in Ruili’s industrial parks had plummeted to approximately 1,000, leaving manufacturing industries battling labor shortages.
Myanmar staff line as much as cross the border from Ruili to Myanmar’s Shan State with giant portions of important items, which have turn out to be scarce in Myanmar because of the ongoing civil warfare. (Picture by Yaolong Xian)
Though Ruili reopened its border crossings in 2023, the recruitment of Myanmar migrants has shifted from being merely an financial concern to a nationwide safety concern. Whereas relaxed border administration has contributed to native financial growth, its drawbacks are additionally evident, as Chinese language authorities lacked correct knowledge on migrant staff, their identities, and actions, posing dangers like cross-border crime. Subsequently, the strengthened management of immigration on the Ruili border has continued past the pandemic.
Consequently, undocumented entry into China by way of casual trails has turn out to be a factor of the previous. The borders at the moment are closely fortified with man-made limitations and surveillance programs. As well as, whereas Myanmar nationals have been in a position to enter China for work since Ruili reopened its border in 2023, they have to present strict documentation, resembling Myanmar’s Blue Card or Border Crossing Allow (generally generally known as the “crimson e-book”). Nevertheless, inefficiencies inside Myanmar’s administrative system usually lead to lengthy processing times. With a short lived border go, entrants are permitted to remain for under seven days at a time, after which they have to depart and re-enter the nation. Those that handle to beat these hurdles nonetheless face restrictions, together with common reporting necessities and restricted mobility exterior industrial parks. A few of these forcibly repatriated through the pandemic – together with some who had lived in Ruili for years and shaped households however lacked authorized documentation – had been left broken-hearted, lowering their willingness to return. Consequently, even in 2024, a yr after the border reopening, the Ruili government acknowledged that the variety of Myanmar nationals legally permitted to work in China remained restricted. Manufacturing enterprises within the metropolis proceed to battle with labor shortages, unable to recruit sufficient Myanmar staff to fulfill their calls for.
The Impression of Myanmar’s Escalating Conflicts
Between 2011 and 2021, Myanmar underwent a outstanding interval of democratization, characterised by financial liberalization and development. This transformation considerably expanded the home market, fueled by rising incomes and a inhabitants exceeding 55 million. Towards this backdrop, Ruili emerged as a key hub for factories catering to the rising Myanmar market, significantly in industries resembling autos and automotive elements. A notable instance is the Beijing Automotive Business Company, which, with sturdy help from the native authorities, introduced plans in 2013 to take a position 3.6 billion yuan ($495 million) to determine a producing plant in Ruili.
Nevertheless, the scenario in Myanmar modified dramatically following the 2021 navy coup, which ousted the civilian authorities and plunged the nation into widespread battle. The coup prompted the formation of the opposition Nationwide Unity Authorities and the Individuals’s Protection Power, which launched an armed rebellion in opposition to the navy. Many ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) additionally resumed their armed struggles, both independently or in alignment with anti-coup resistance forces, additional broadening the scope of the battle.
Practically 4 years after the navy takeover, civilians in Myanmar face an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, with thousands and thousands struggling to outlive. Humanitarian wants have reached alarming ranges, with an estimated 19.9 million people – greater than a 3rd of the inhabitants – in want of help. Along with floor battles, the Myanmar navy has more and more relied on air strikes to focus on resistance-held areas, usually hitting civilian infrastructure resembling colleges, hospitals, and non secular buildings. These assaults have induced widespread destruction and additional deepened the disaster, displacing numerous people and devastating communities.
This shift has had a profound influence on industries that rely closely on efficient demand from Myanmar. Many Myanmar prospects, struggling to prioritize fundamental survival, now not have disposable earnings for non-essential purchases. A good portion of the inhabitants has turn out to be unemployed, with many compelled into inner displacement. As an example, as of January 2025, Shan State and Kachin State – each bordering Ruili – reported 238,100 and 141,100 internally displaced individuals, respectively. The continued armed clashes have additionally severely disrupted the logistics of exporting Ruili’s items to Myanmar. Muse, the border city adjoining to Ruili in Shan State, was briefly underneath the management of EAOs in early 2024 and is now encircled by numerous non-state armed teams. The Mandalay-Lashio-Muse Street, a vital artery for commerce in northern Shan State, has turn out to be a central goal within the battle, additional compounding the challenges confronted by industries depending on cross-border commerce.
The border crossing between Ruili, China and Muse, Myanmar, as seen on June 23, 2018. (Wikimedia Commons/瑞丽江的河水)
Yinxiang, a bike producer primarily based in Ruili, alone exported 540,000 motorcycles to Myanmar in 2018, however by 2024, solely 23,800 motorcycles had been exported from your complete of Dehong. Worsening the scenario, Ruili closely promoted the manufacturing and export of recent vitality autos. Nevertheless, energy outages have been a persistent drawback in Myanmar because the navy takeover in 2021. The nation now faces nationwide energy cuts attributable to lowered electrical energy manufacturing. Even in main cities like Yangon and Mandalay, removed from the direct battle zones, the every day electrical energy provide lasts only a few hours. This has considerably weakened client curiosity in buying electrical autos, additional undermining Ruili’s export marketplace for electrical autos.
Anti-Fraud Campaigns: Ruili is Struggling the Stigma
In recent times, China has intensified its crackdown on telecom fraud involving Chinese language nationals in Southeast Asia. Amid this effort, the narrative of a “harmful Southeast Asia” has gained vital traction on Chinese language social media. Tales warning of abduction, forced labor, and even organ trafficking for these venturing into the area are widespread. Whereas a lot of this content material consists of unfounded rumors, the concern of Southeast Asia – particularly Myanmar, recognized for harboring quite a few telecom fraud name facilities – is palpable. This anxiousness has been additional amplified by the latest case of Chinese language actor Wang Xing, who was taken from Thailand to Myanmar after being tricked by a rip-off syndicate.
Attributable to its proximity and deep ties with Myanmar, Ruili has additionally been forged as unsafe and evil within the public creativeness. Chinese language social media platforms, resembling Xiaohongshu, WeChat, and Douyin, are rife with rumors portraying town as a gateway to hazard. Claims resembling “persons are deceived into going to Ruili and get up trafficked to northern Myanmar,” “Ruili is an confederate,” “Ruili and Myanmar are like household,” and “Ruili is a transit hub for human trafficking” have gone viral. Regardless of some efforts by Chinese authorities to debunk these myths, their influence has been restricted.
The prevailing narratives about Ruili haven’t solely proliferated on-line however have additionally profoundly impacted town. As soon as celebrated for its vibrant border tourism, Ruili is now broadly perceived as a dangerous vacation spot, deterring potential guests who hesitate or select different places. This lack of confidence extends past home vacationers to incorporate traders. As an inland metropolis, Ruili closely depends on investments from different extra developed provinces, making the attraction of funding a key task for native officers. Even through the pandemic in 2022, Ruili’s senior officials traveled extensively to different provinces to safe much-needed investments. Nevertheless, town’s present tarnished picture has eroded investor confidence. Negotiating with traders now usually requires native officers to dedicate substantial effort to repairing Ruili’s popularity and addressing widespread misconceptions. But these makes an attempt should stay non-public and discreet, as within the present local weather, they’re more likely to be misconstrued as defending Myanmar’s telecom fraud, resulting in backlash and cyberviolence.
Ruili stands at a crossroads, grappling with advanced challenges rooted in shifting home insurance policies, Myanmar’s escalating conflicts, and the influence of anti-fraud campaigns. As soon as a thriving hub of cross-border commerce, town now struggles to get well its former vitality. Viewing these challenges from Ruili’s native perspective highlights a sobering actuality: every concern exceeds town’s capability to deal with by itself.
