4 reasons why Mywaddy is the most important city in Myanmar #Yangon #myanmar #geopolitics #economics

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Hey everyone, it's ASEAN Anthony. Today, I'm going to give you four reasons why Myawaddy might be the most important city in Myanmar. Now, I understand that most foreigners think that Yangon is the most important city, but Yangon is just a face of Myanmar. Mandalay is the soul of Myanmar, and I'm going to argue today that Myawaddy is the backbone of Myanmar. And this is because we need to look towards our ASEAN brothers and sisters if we want Myanmar to be more prosperous. Unfortunately, with when it comes to China, China is just too powerful. When Myanmar and China come together and try to make deals, China will always get their way. They're not bad guys, they're not bad people, and we need to learn from the Chinese, but right now Myanmar and China are not on equal footing, and we cannot be expected to be treated fairly or be treated equally by the Chinese, and that is what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about Myawaddy and why it matters, okay? So, number one.

[00:00:57]Where is Myawaddy? Well, Myawaddy sits across from a border town in Thailand called Mae Sot, okay? Sorry if I'm pronouncing that incorrectly.

[00:01:08]But in this border town, there's a lot of trade that goes on. Trucks, medicine, fuel, food, etc., etc. So much so that there is billions of dollars going through this trade route, okay? So, it's very, very important economically. Next.

[00:01:27]When or if Myawaddy closes, prices rise, inflation gets worse, and restaurants and factories have to close because they cannot get their products. And this is because if the billions and billions of dollars of products stop coming into Myanmar, that affects Yangon directly, okay? Three.

[00:01:50]Myawaddy is not just about Thailand.

[00:01:53]Myawaddy actually connects in to something called the East-West Corridor.

[00:01:58]And this is a corridor that stretches from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and in Myanmar at the end. And so, without this corridor and without Myawaddy, the front door to ASEAN is closed, okay?

[00:02:15]And this is why my name is ASEAN Anthony. I believe in the ASEAN brothers and sisters, okay? And so, this is why this is very important to me. And number four, here's the good news.

[00:02:26]Myawaddy actually just recently opened.

[00:02:28]Okay? And the effects of this economically haven't been felt because they uh I think it opened last month, okay? But I am sad to say the only reason why it opened is because of the government um old forced it open via air strikes. So, that is not the best news, but it actually needed to happen. So, this [snorts] is what I'm here to say today.

[00:02:55]Myawaddy is open, Myawaddy matters, Myawaddy will change ASEAN.