Activists have called on China to halt construction of controversial oil and gas pipelines through Myanmar, warning of instability and civil unrest if the country's ruling junta continues to starve its people of energy.
The Shwe Gas Movement (SGM), a group of Myanmar exiles in Bangladesh, India, and Thailand, also said the military's recent offensive against ethnic rebels near the pipeline route showed the regime had no concerns about providing stability for investors.
"People across [Myanmar] are facing severe energy shortages and this massive energy export will only fuel social unrest," SGM said in a Sept. 7 report.
"These resources belong to our people and should be used for the energy needs of our country," SGM said, claiming that fuel shortages triggered a series of protests in the country in 2007, leading to the deaths of 31 people in the bloodiest army crackdown since 1988.
Pipelines coming
China's largest oil and gas producer, China National Petroleum Corp., is due to start construction of nearly 4,000 km of duel pipelines from Myanmar's western Arakan state to China's Yunnan province.
The development is expected to provide the military, which has ruled the country since a 1962 coup, with at least $29 billion over 30 years. The pipelines will supply China with oil shipped from the Middle East and natural gas from Myanmar's vast offshore reserves in the Bay of Bengal.
How will the Chinese respond? Probably much like the South Koreans a few months ago when SGM and EarthRights International issued in June a joint report claiming that South Korea is failing to hold its corporations to account for abuses linked to gas development in Myanmar.
The report documents "conflicts of interest" within the government in Seoul and said South Korea is not upholding international guidelines.
Forced relocations
The report urged the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which met in Paris at the time, to investigate a complaint on the issue that it said the South Korean government had dismissed.
"The Korean government is failing to hold Korean corporations accountable for abuses connected to natural gas development in military ruled [Myanmar]," the groups said in a statement.
The statement said the gas project "has already been linked to forced relocations and other human rights violations," adding, "Local people who criticized the project faced arbitrary arrest and detention."
Not much seemed to emerge from the criticism then, and even less is likely now. People are just not buying into the idea that oil and gas developments in Myanmar are responsible for the crimes being committed there.
Even less convincing is the activists' argument that exporting Myanmar's gas will lead to social unrest. The problems in Myanmar are well-known, and the military there bears much of the responsibility for them—not the oil and gas industry.