![\"\"](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/johnstrawn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2011\/06\/Burma-China-border.jpg\")
<\/a>China's Border with Myanmar: Don't Land Here<\/p><\/div>\n
Brian Curley, a principal in Schmidt-Curley Design, the highly successful golf course design company whose Chinese projects include the Mission Hills courses\u2014both the original Mission Hills in Shenzhen and the new project on Hainan Island\u2014sent an email on June 21 to alert fellow course designers to the dangers of working in this region.\u00a0\u00a0 Curley\u2019s note said that the kidnapped employee was \u201cbeing held for ransom across the border,\u201d and that he had gone to Yunnan following up on a \u201ccold call\u201d to the JFO \u201coffice with a request to visit a site for design of a course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attempts to contact Obringer\u2019s office were not successful.<\/p>\n
The kidnapping took place, according to Curley\u2019s note, near the Dehong Mangshi Airport, which is roughly fifty miles from the Myanmar border.\u00a0 The terrain in this region is difficult, with few roads, heavy vegetation and steep canyons.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Neither the Chinese nor the Burmese governments have complete control of their territory here, which has historically been the base for warlords who finance their activities through the sale of opiates.<\/p>\n
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes, \u201cworld heroin consumption (340 tons) and seizures represent an annual flow of 430-450 tons of heroin into the global heroin market. Of that total, opium from Myanmar and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic yields some 50 tons.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The same groups who broker dope also dabble in kidnapping.\u00a0 Curley\u2019s letter notes that roughly 300 kidnappings have been reported recently in this region, and among the victims is a Malaysian golf course architect, although no details regarding him were forthcoming.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Tough Terrain on the China-Myanmar Border<\/p><\/div>\n
Myanmar is ruled by a military junta and its closest trading partner is China. \u00a0 \u00a0Since 1988 the United States has imposed sanctions on Myanmar and prohibited American companies from doing business there. \u00a0The junta leaders secretly constructed a new capitol called\u00a0Naypyidaw<\/a> that the New York Times described as “remote, lavish and off limits.” \u00a0According to Wikipedia, Navpyidaw has two golf courses,\u00a0Nay Pyi Taw City Golf Course and Yaypyar Golf Course. \u00a0I searched everything I could think of on the internet to try to learn who designed these courses, but was unable to find any information. Given the sanctions, it’s probably prudent not to celebrate this particular accomplishment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"