China reveals $8bn Burma investment

China has pumped $8.17 billion into military-run Burma in the current fiscal year, accounting for two thirds its total investment over the past two decades, official government data shows.

Energy projects formed the bulk of the investment, with $5 billion in hydropower and $2.15 billion in the oil and gas sector of the reclusive, resource-rich nation whose neighbours include China and India, data showed.

China also invested $997 million in mining in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

Sanctions imposed by the West because of Burma's poor human rights record and decades of mismanagement and corruption by the military rulers have crippled the country's economy.

Many deals in Burma are done in secret with the government and are not included in official data, which does not name investing companies or projects.