China's state media says the country has approved the construction of an oil pipeline to Burma.

The official China Business Newspaper says the National Development and Reform Commission gave the approval for the pipeline at the beginning of April. It is to connect Burma's deep-water port of Sittwe to the city of Kunming in the landlocked Yunnan province of southwestern China.

Construction is likely to begin sometime this year, although the newspaper did not mention any timetable for completion.

Approval for the pipeline has been pending for some time.

China wants to build the pipeline to reduce its dependence on oil tankers traveling through the Strait of Malacca with shipments of crude oil from the Middle East and Africa.