Despite long-held objections to the project by activists and locals, the Shwe pipeline connecting Burma’s Arakan State to Kunming in southern China began piping natural gas across the Sino-Burmese border...At a commissioning ceremony...Mandalay, Vice President Nyan Tun praised the completion of the controversial pipeline while assuring a “good, collaborative” relationship with the Burmese government and affected communities in future"…The pipeline has been widely criticized by opponents who claim widespread human rights abuses were perpetrated in the course of its construction. Critics also say the project has lacked transparency and is detrimental to the environment…[Refers to China National Petroleum Corporation, Daewoo International, GAIL, KOGAS, Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise, ONGC Videsh, South East Asia Crude Oil Pipeline]