open letter to Govt of China

October 28, 2009  
 
President Hu Jintao  
People’s Republic of China  
Zhongnanhai, Xichengqu, Beijing City  
People’s Republic of China

Dear President Hu,

We, the Shwe Gas Movement from Burma and organizations listed below, are writing to express our grave concerns of China’s planned construction of natural gas and oil pipelines from western Burma to the Yunnan Province of China. The project will pose serious risks both to the people of Burma and regional security as well as financial and image risks to China. Therefore we are calling for the project to be suspended unless these risks can be mitigated.

The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) holds a 50.9% stake in partnership with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in dual oil and gas pipelines planned from western Burma’s Arakan State to China’s Yunnan Province.  CNPC will also manage the projects, which will cut directly though central Burma and affect thousands of communities.  Construction on the pipelines was set to begin in September 2009.

We understand and support the fact that China has increasing energy needs in order to support the development of your country and its people. However, we believe that in order to nurture a relationship based on regional stability and development that will benefit the people of the two countries, urgent measures are required.

We are gravely concerned for the thousands communities living along the planned 980 km pipeline corridor. Based on experiences in Burma, partnerships with the MOGE on infra-structure development projects invariably leads to forced displacement, forced labour and loss of livelihoods. The escalation of abuses around a project when Burma army soldiers provide security is well documented by UN agencies and NGOs.

 In the 1990s, the Yadana gas project was developed by TOTAL of France and UNOCAL Corporation of the United States of America. The project directly resulted in forced labour, land confiscation, displacement, rape, and killings. TOTAL and UNOCAL were subsequently sued in French and US courts, respectively, for what amounted to their involvement in the human rights abuses, and each case was settled out of court. These same questions of complicity, aiding and abetting, and otherwise exacerbating the human rights situation in Burma are raised again by the Trans-Burma pipeline project and directed at CNPC under your government’s policy and administration.

There are already reports of human rights violations in Arakan state connected to the project’s exploration phase, including arrests and beatings of fishermen, and abuses will escalate as the project progresses.

Conflicts have already surfaced in Burma, in response to oil and gas exploration by a Chinese corporation in partnership with Burma’s MOGE. The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Ltd conducted explorations in western Burma’s onshore block M between 2005-2007, which led to land confiscation, environmental degradation and loss of livelihoods. The local community were neither consulted nor informed of the project. Following two years of abuse in relation to the project, members of the local community destroyed the local CNOOC camp in Yenantaung village in Kyauk Phyu Township, Arakan State. Burma’s regime has repeatedly proven that is incapable of creating a situation on the ground in which the peoples’ basic rights are protected and stability is ensured.

The 2007 uprising in Burma was ignited by sudden massive increases in fuel prices, which made peoples’ living costs so high that they responded by public protests and global attention to the subsequent crackdown by the Burma Army. 

This oil and gas pipeline project would, if it goes ahead, create a conjuncture in which on one hand Chinese corporations and the partnering Burma army operating on the ground will be responsible for rights abuses and uprooting livelihoods and on the other hand exporting vast amounts of oil and gas to China while the  electricity consumption per capita in Burma is less than 5% of the Chinese people. This is a dangerous combination which could further fuel serious conflicts and anti-Chinese sentiment in Burma.

The recent attacks by the Burma army on the ethnic Chinese Kokang are predicted to further destabilize the country, and areas affecting the pipeline construction. The regime is through its mismanagement, the main destabilizing factor in Burma.

We welcome China’s efforts in supporting the UN to facilitate tri-partite negotiations in Burma for sustainable national reconciliation, development and democracy. We also believe that this is the sustainable path for Burma to become a stable neighbour and partner in future cooperation.

We therefore urge you to take pro-active measures in the case of Burma and this pipeline project, to prevent a human and environmental disaster from taking place, by:

1. suspending the construction of the natural gas and oil pipelines until these impending risks can be mitigated;

2. ensuring that Chinese corporations operating overseas follow Chinese laws as well as international laws and guidelines to which China or its corporations are signatories;

3. following through on your earlier efforts to realize substantive tri-partite negotiations in Burma as a sustainable path to national reconciliation, development, democracy promoting regional stability. 

We thank you in advance for your attention on this urgent matter, and we warmly welcome a response from your administration.

Yours sincerely,

To reply about this "ENDORSE - Open Letter to Government of China",  click HERE to send email to us directly or send email to solidarity@shwe.org