Shwe Kokko: How governance failures and political quagmire created Myanmar’s most notorious crime hub

The story of how the Shwe Kokko New City Project became synonymous with transnational crime is far more complex than the media, and particularly international outlets, have reported. The reports lack a nuanced understanding of Myanmar. Beneath its surface, the project is a tangled web of corrupt politics, competing security interests, and fractured governance that has long plagued the country and threatened its neighbours.