China has reopened three China-Myanmar border trade gates that had been closed for nearly three years due to the COVID-19 epidemic, but Myanmar has refused to reopen them, the traders told Than Lwin Times.

China officially announced on January 2 that it will reopen Manwen, Nan Daw, and Sin Phyu border gates from January 8.

A trader claimed that Myanmar officials had a meeting and agreed to keep the trade gates closed as a result of the ongoing spike in COVID-19 infections in the Chinese city of Shweli.

Myanmar has sent an official letter to China stating that it is still unable to open the border gates and they will monitor the situation of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, there is no indication of when it will reopen in the letter.

According to traders, trucks arrived to transport products when China indicated it would reopen its border trade gates, but Myanmar did not open the gates, resulting in a loss in transportation costs.

Currently, only one of the China-Myanmar border trade gates, Kyin San Kywat, is open, and it can only trade with about 130 trucks per day, people are not permitted to travel, and goods can only be exported with substitute drivers, increasing the cost.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, border trade between China and Myanmar has dropped by roughly 65 percent, and in other cases, trade has totally ceased when all gates are closed.