WHEN popular protest forced Myanmar to suspend(暂停；中止) the building of the Myitsone dam in 2011, the project became a symbol of democracy, nationalism and defiance(反抗；违抗) of China. Very few Chinese-backed dams worldwide had ever been halted by public opposition. Then last December Soe Win, the junta’s second-in-command, said that it had struck a deal with China to restart the project. It is a cascade of seven dams at the confluence of the Irrawaddy, seen by many in Myanmar as the country’s mother river. Myitsone is the crown jewel(皇冠上的明珠；最珍贵之物) of the dams and the most controversial(有争议的).
2011年，民众抗议迫使缅甸暂停了密松水坝的建设，该项目成为民主、民族主义和反抗中国的象征。全球范围内，很少有中国支持的水坝因公众反对而停工。去年12月，军政府二号人物梭温表示，已与中国达成协议重启该项目。该水坝是伊洛瓦底江汇合处七级水坝中的一级，伊洛瓦底江被许多缅甸人视为母亲河。密松是这些水坝中的明珠，也是最具争议的。
The question is why the dam is to be resurrect(复活；重启)ed. It was loathe(厌恶；憎恨)d: the deal was opaque(不透明的；难懂的); most of the electricity would go to China; it threatened to worsen floods and damage biodiversity(生物多样性), livelihoods and sacred sites downstream. None of that has changed. Moreover, China does not need the electricity urgently.
问题在于为何要重启这座水坝。它曾遭人憎恨：协议不透明；大部分电力将输往中国；它威胁加剧洪灾，破坏下游的生物多样性、生计和圣地。这些状况丝毫未变。此外，中国并不急需这些电力。
The revival, then, is not really about hydropower. It is about leverage(杠杆；影响力). Ever more dependent on China, the junta is using a despised project to buy Chinese goodwill(购买中国的好感) and to squeeze the ethnic army that controls much of Kachin state, where the dams would be built. The project has become both a bargaining chip(谈判筹码) with China and a pretext(借口；托词) for crushing dissent(压制异议).
因此，这次重启并非真正关乎水电。而是关于杠杆作用。由于越来越依赖中国，军政府正利用一个遭人鄙视的项目来购买中国的好感，并向控制着大部分克钦邦（水坝将建于此）的少数民族武装施压。该项目已成为与中国谈判的筹码，也是镇压异见的借口。