The pipeline starts from the bank of the Bay of Bengal, passes through Burma’s military-ruled country for nearly 622 miles, and ends in Yunnan Province, China. All but eight miles of the pipeline are set to traverse Burmese soil. The pipeline would be used to pump the oil shipped from the Middle East and Africa, and the natural gas from the Shwe gas fields of Burma (also known as Myanmar) to China.
The campaign groups—an alliance of All Arakan Students & Youth Congress, Arakan Oil Watch, Shwe Gas Movement India, and Shwe Gas Movement Bangladesh—sent an open letter to Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Jintao through 12 Chinese Embassies around the world. The letter asserted that if the pipeline is implemented, there would be two visible impacts; firstly, more militarization of Burma and secondly, more rights violations.
“The Burmese military regime will receive more than $800 million every year from the project,” said Kim, the Shwe Gas Movement coordinator. “But the money will never go to the people. And there will be more human rights violations like forced labor, lands confiscation, and even rape of women.”
Kim said that the project would not only seriously threaten the people of Burma, but also would pose risks for regional security, diplomacy, and financial aspects to both Burma and China. “We demand to suspend the project to prevent a human and environmental disaster from taking place,” he said.
The letter said: “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 would benefit the people of both the countries, an urgent measure is definitely required.”
The state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) holds a 50.9-percent stake in partnership with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in the construction of the oil and gas pipeline from Arakan to Yunnan. The project is expected to yield $29 billion over 30 years to the military junta of Nay Pie Taw.
A number of international corporations is also involved in the petroleum production activities in Burma, including Daewoo International from South Korea, holding 51 percent of shares in Shwe Gas Consortium; Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) from Videsh, India, with 17 percent of shares; Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), with 8.5 percent of shares; the China National Petroleum Corporation, purchaser of the gas and builder of pipelines; and PetroChina Company Ltd.
The letter expressed concern for the thousands of communities living along the planned pipeline corridor.
“The escalation of abuses around a project when Burma army soldiers provide security is well documented by U.N. agencies and NGOs,” the letter said.
The letter alluded to a historical precedence for halting the project.
“In the 1990s, the Yadana gas project was developed by TOTAL of France and UNOCAL Corporation of the United States of America,” the letter said. “The project directly resulted in forced labor, land confiscation, displacement, rape, and killings. TOTAL and UNOCAL were subsequently sued in French and U.S. 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.”
The letter also said that 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 between 2005 and 2007, which led to land confiscation, environmental degradation, and loss of livelihoods.
“The local community were neither consulted nor informed of the project,” the letter said.
The initiative was supported by 120 organizations in over 20 countries.
Nava Thakuria is a freelance journalist based in Guwahati, northeast India.
