Authorities in Yunnan have submitted a proposal to the State Council, China’s highest governing body, on building a pipeline that would start in the province’s capital city of Kunming and then pass through Myanmar’s Mandalay city before ending at the deepwater port of Sittwe on the coast adjoining the Indian Ocean, according to a source from the local government. The proposed pipeline will be 1,200 km shorter than the “Malacca route”, the traditional route used to transport crude oil from the Middle East and Africa to Zhanjiang in South China’s Guangdong province, and Ningbo in the eastern Zhejiang province. However, with the cost of the pipeline and associated infrastructure estimated at tens of billions of dollars, this pipeline will be worthwhile only because it would help improve China’s energy security. China’s fast economic growth has led to a sharp rise in oil demand and securing stable oil imports has become a major concern for the country. Beijing has been looking for ways to by-pass the Strait of Malacca, now the main route through which East Asian countries get oil from the Middle East and Africa. Pirate attacks regularly occur in the Strait, through which up to 80% of China’s oil is imported.