For the last several years, there has been rumors and speculation that Burma’s military junta was attempting to secretly build or acquire a nuclear weapon. But now the country’s new quasi-civilian government is unapologetically charging ahead with the construction of a potential weapon of mass destruction right in front of everybody’s eyes—the Myitsone Dam.

Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at [email protected].

As a result, protests against the Myitsone Dam have been growing, with activists inside and outside of Burma coordinating their efforts and joining the Kachin Independence Army and the people of Kachin State—who have been fighting against the construction of the dam since its conception—in a push to stop the joint China-Burma hydropower project .

In what has now been coined the “Save the Irrawaddy” campaign, many scholars, publishers, journalists, activists and public figures have been at the forefront, actively educating the public and advocating a halt to the dam project, which was begun without any public participation in the decision making process. The movement has gained momentum through the use of Internet social networking sites such as Facebook, and last week in-person events were held around Rangoon, with many of Burma’s prominent intellectuals, politicians, students and activists gathering to show campaign solidarity.

At the “Save the Irrawaddy” art exhibition, more than 100 photographs, paintings, drawings and cartoons were displayed, although Burma’s censorship officials inspected the show in advance and removed some cartoons that were critical of the government.

Burma’s Pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi attended the exhibition, and told those present that, “People need to unite if they are to achieve what they want,” a message implying that the campaign to stop the Myitsone Dam could also become a rallying point for Burma’s opposition forces and ethnic minorities in their efforts to bring democracy and human rights to the country.

The “Save the Irrawaddy” campaign was recently fueled by Zaw Min, Burma’s minister of electric power, who arrogantly announced that the government would continue with the Myitsone Dam project regardless of the public outcry.

“We'll keep working on the Myitsone Project. We'll never back down. We won't halt this project in spite of objections from environmental groups,” said Zaw Min, who asserted that the dam will not affect water levels on the river nor have any adverse environmental effects.

Zaw Min also said that the dam would be constructed in a fashion that ensures safety for nearly one thousand years, but critics argue that other Chinese-built dams have poor safety records and the world's largest, the Three Gorges Dam, has caused urgent environmental, geological and social problems.

If the Burmese government continues to thumb its nose at the public campaign in this fashion, it is likely that the protests will grow even louder and stronger and could in fact turn into a bigger social movement.

In any event, the anti-Mytisone Dam protests will no doubt test President Thein Sein and his new government, which came to power in a sham election orchestrated by the former military junta. It was this previous regime that signed the dam project agreement with China and contracted with AsiaWorld, a private Burmese company, for construction of the dam. AsiaWorld and its owner, Steven Law, are on the US and EU sanctions list. The main investor in the project is the China Power Investment Corporation, a state-run Chinese company.

Since the previous Burmese junta came to power in 1988, China has been a major source of arms supplies, political support, aid and loans to preserve the brutal regime, and now China is one of the Burma’s largest trading partners and investors.

China accounted for US $ 8.3 billion, or 41.4 percent, of all foreign direct investment in Burma in the 2010 fiscal year. China’s investments include hydropower projects, oil and gas, and pipelines carrying natural gas and oil from the port of Kyaukpyu on Burma's western coastline to China’s Yunnan Province.

As a result of these massive investments, many in Burma feel that the country is in effect becoming a province of China, and anti-Chinese feeling is on the rise. Last week, police arrested a man when he prepared to stage a peaceful solo protest near the Chinese Cultural Office in Rangoon. Since then, authorities dispatched riot police near the Chinese Embassy in the former capital to stop an additional planned protest.

If this continues, the campaign to save the Irrawaddy River may also become a campaign to rid the country from Chinese influence and reclaim the nation’s natural resources.

Critics have rightly pointed out that the current government should adhere to Chapter 1, Article 45 of the junta-drafted 2008 Constitution that says, “The Union shall protect and conserve the natural environment.” The irony of this provision is that decades of misrule by the military regime has squandered and depleted Burma’s wealth of natural resources for the benefit of China and an elite few in Burma, leaving many to wonder whether all of the country’s resources will be gone by the time true democracy is achieved.

Recently, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group released a report praising the new civilian regime and stating that President Thein Sein is reform-minded. Thus far, however, while showing some signs of superficial reform, Thein Sein has remained loyal to ex-junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe and continued to protect the interests of the previous military regime’s leaders and their cronies.

The people of Burma feel that they all belong to the Irrawaddy River—it is the country’s bloodline and a key to its culture. If Thein Sein is his own man and really wants reform, then he should begin his reforms by listening to the voices of the people and exercising his executive power to suspend the Myitsone Dam project. If he does so, the people in Burma may see him as visionary leader. But if he does not, then the growing campaign to save the Irrawaddy River may turn into a people’s campaign to take the matter into their own hands.