China’s Grip on Burma ‘Cause for Concern’

By WILLIAM BOOT

BANGKOK—China’s grip on Burma’s natural resources has grown considerably in a short time, says a detailed investigation by a US-based human rights organization, EarthRights International (ERI).

The survey identifies 69 Chinese companies engaged in oil, gas, hydropower development and mining—a 250 percent increase on the number thought to be operating in Burma when a similar study was made one year ago.

But the survey says there could be more than 70 Chinese companies operating across Burma because the mining sector is particularly difficult to assess.

“Given what we know about development projects in Burma and the current situation, we’re concerned about this marked increase in the number of these projects,” says ERI in a report published on Monday.

Washington-based ERI says Burma has become “geopolitically significant” to the Chinese as their mushrooming economy demands ever more natural resources, notably energy related.

Having a compliant neighbor rich in gas, oil, minerals and timber is a big plus for China, but Burma’s position on the edge of the Indian Ocean also makes it a “particularly desirable partner in China’s pursuit of energy security,” says ERI.

This is in reference to Chinese plans to develop ports and pipelines in Burma to transship large volumes of oil and gas from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.

“We’re concerned about the lack of information about these projects available to the public domain,” said Alek Momi, the report’s principal researcher.

The survey identifies the most firms in hydropower developments—at least 45 companies actively engaged or planning 63 projects, ranging from small dams to the massive scheme on the River Salween at Tasang.

In Burma’s mushrooming oil and gas sectors, at least 16 Chinese companies are named, including all three of China’s biggest transnational enterprises, Sinopec, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

ERI pinpoints the Arakan coast as one of the most significant strategic locations for China’s long-term plans for vacuuming up global oil and gas reserves.

“CNPC has signed a MoU with MOGE [Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise] for a detailed assessment of the potential construction of a crude oil terminal off the coast of Arakan State,” says the report.

A terminal for oil shipped in from the Middle East and Africa, plus pipelines across Burma into southwest China, would “increase the efficiency of China’s oil and gas imports by providing an alternative to the problematic Straits of Malacca.”

ERI names ten Chinese companies involved in mining for minerals—a sector “difficult to assess as many mining projects are small, therefore less visible and attracting less publicity.”

The ERI report comes just a few days after the Burmese junta confirmed that Chinese state-controlled China Non-Ferrous Metal Group will proceed to mine nickel in the Mandalay region.

Few details of the agreement have been disclosed. The Burmese ministry of mines claimed that the project would provide more than 1,000 jobs for local people. The nickel will be exported to China.

ERI says this will become one of the largest mining projects in Burma, with investment of US $600 million, financed by Chinese state banks, to mine and export up 40 million tons of nickel ore.

The lack of clarity on this particular project at Tagung Taung—land acquisition, environmental impact and displacement—underscores ERI’s concerns.

The group has also unearthed evidence of plans by another Chinese company, Jinbao Mining, with a convoluted ownership, to investigate prospects for mining a 10-million ton nickel deposit at Mwetaung in Chin State.

ERI, with Southeast Asia offices in Chiang Mai, Thailand, campaigns for human rights in a number of areas but especially where transnational companies seek to trample on land rights and damage the environment.

ERI brought a successful legal action in the US against oil company Unocal—now part of Chevron—to compensate Burmese villagers for the Yadana gas pipeline through southeast Burma into Thailand.

In China, there is no public consultation on industrial developments and land is often illegally confiscated and people forcibly evicted. China has one of the worst polluted environments in the world due to uncontrolled development.