 Dawei would give Thailand that connection.China, by far the biggest investor in Burma, has focused on constructing oil and gas pipelines that "crisscross the country, starting from a new terminus at Kyaukphyu, just below Sittwe, up to Mandalay and on to the Chinese border town of Ruili and then Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province".This would prevent China from "having to funnel oil from Africa and the Middle East through the bottleneck around Singapore".