Myanmar's farmers pay for China's oil thirst

http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JK04Ae01.html

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK - The largest island off Myanmar's west coast is emerging as another frontier for China's expanding plans to extract the rich oil and gas reserves of military-ruled Myanmar.

Initial explorations by a consortium, led by China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), has left a deep scar on Ramree Island, which is twice the size of Singapore and home to about 400,000 people. ''They have destroyed rice fields and plantations when conducting the seismic surveys and mining the island in search of oil,'' says Jockai Khaing, director of Arakan Oil Watch (AOW), an environmental group of Myanmar people living in exile.

''The local communities have been directly and indirectly affected,'' he said. ''Hundreds of people have been forced to relocate as a result of the drilling conducted near their communities. The locals hate the Chinese; their world has become crazy after the Chinese arrived.''


CNOOC has been pushing ahead with its work since early 2005 with no attempt to consult the local residents and showing little regard to such notions as corporate social responsibility, said Jockai. The Chinese company, which is listed on the New York and the Hong Kong stock exchanges, has ''not conducted the required environmental impact assessments and social impact assessments that are recognized internationally as a must before exploration work begins.''

To dispose the waste from its drilling sites, ''CNOOC workers dug shallow canals designed to carry the [toxic] drilling mud, or wastewater containing oil, away from the drilling sites and into Chaing Wa Creek, which curves past several local farms before flowing into the Bay of Bengal,'' states a report by AOW, released in mid-October. ''This arbitrary disposal can make soil in surrounding areas unsuitable for plant growth by reducing the availability of nutrients or by increasing toxic contents in the soil.''

Concerns about the cost of letting China tighten its grip on the natural resources in Myanmar has also been expressed by other groups, including EarthRights International (EI), a US-based group championing human rights. There are 69 Chinese companies involved in 90 ''completed, current and planned projects'' in the oil, gas and hydropower sectors in Myanmar, EI said in groundbreaking report released in late September.

That number marks an over 200% increase in the number of Chinese energy developers thought to have had existed in the country a year before. ''Given what we know about development projects in Myanmar and the current situation, we're concerned about this marked increase in the number of the projects,'' the rights lobby stated in the report [1].

''China is using Myanmar's military dictatorship to its advantage as it goes in search of oil and gas. There are no rules and regulations for Chinese companies to follow in Myanmar,'' Ka Hsaw Wa, executive director of EI, said in an IPS interview. ''This will hurt the future of Myanmar.''

Such criticisms come at a time when China has begun to show signs that the environmental cost of its projects abroad cannot be ignored. ''The country lacked comprehensive environmental protection policies in its overseas projects, although investment had been expanding,'' states a report released in mid-September by the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP), according to the China Daily newspaper.

''China's overseas investment and aid mainly focuses on exploring oil and other resources, processing and manufacturing, and construction in African and Southeast Asian countries,'' the English-language, Chinese government-owned daily said. ''Without proper management, such projects are likely to cause environmental problems, the [CAEP] report said.''

Myanmar will prove to be an ideal testing ground, given that China has emerged as the biggest investor in the military-ruled country's power sector. The money flowing in from such foreign direct investments and the sale of gas has helped to prop up a junta notorious for suppressing its people through many forms of abuse.
In 2006, the government of Myanmar earned an estimated US$2.16 billion from sales of natural gas to Thailand, which accounts for close to half of Myanmar's export earnings and is the single largest source of foreign earnings. In 2008, Myanmar is expected to earn $3.5 billion from export of gas, according to one estimate.

But few of these benefits trickle down to the country's people. Consequently, Myanmar ranks as one of the world's least-developed countries. Nor has having abundance of natural resources improved the power supply in the country either. Regular blackouts are frequent in Yangon, the former capital, and elsewhere.

The government has profited in other ways, too, from China's energy interest in Myanmar. ''Beijing has come to the junta's rescue and protects it from criticism at international forums like the UN Security Council,'' says Win Min, a Myanmar national security expert teaching at a university in northern Thailand. ''A strong relationship of mutual benefit has developed since 1988.''

In exchange for letting Chinese companies exploit its natural resources, the Myanmar leadership has received military hardware from Beijing. They range from fighter jets and armored carriers to small weapons, Win Min told IPS. ''The junta will open the country to China because the military regime needs Beijing more than the other way around.''

Note
1. China in Burma: The Increasing Involvement of Chinese Multinational Corporations in Myanmar's Hydropower, Oil and Natural Gas, and Mining Sectors.

(Inter Press Service)