 | |
Published: 29 Oct 2009 16:02:01 PST
By Zuo Xuan
Activists held a series of protests Wednesday in several Southeast Asian countries to demand the Chinese government suspend an energy project due to start next month in Myanmar, urging the Myanmar government to protect the rights of residents living close to the project.
"We want to tell the Chinese government that it is not time to start the project until the local people can participate in it," a spokesman surnamed Kim from Shwe Gas Movement, which organized the protests, told the Global Times Thursday, adding that they are not aimed at "fighting with China, one of our neighbors."
The project starts at Kyauk Phyu, a major city in western Myanmar's Rakhine State, running through the central city of Mandalay to Ruili, in China's Yunnan Province.
It will transfer oil shipped from the Middle East and Africa, as well as natural gas from the Shwe Gas fields in western Myanmar to China's Yunnan Province.
According to statistics, 80 percent of oil imported to China is transported through the narrow Straits of Malacca, jeopardizing China's energy security.
Qu Jianwen, a researcher at Yunnan University, and one of the three proponents of the project, argued that Myanmar's biggest priority now is to develop its economy so as to improve the living standards of its people, and that the pipeline project will benefit both countries, including local residents, according to the Beijing-based Elite Reference newspaper.
Echoing Qu, Song Qingrun, a specialist in Myanmar affairs at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, cited a previous case of a similar pipeline between Myanmar and Thailand.
"That project was also harshly criticized at the start. But when it was finished, many locals were happy about it, because their lives were improved by having that project," Song said. "Westerners and some human rights groups always see the Myanmar government through tainted glasses. Their conclusion that the project will hurt the locals is quite unfounded."
"I believe the governments have already had scientific assessment done on the damage caused by the project and are considering proper compensation," he added.
The Shwe Gas Movement tried to deliver an open letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday, saying that, based on experience, partnerships with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise on infrastructure-development projects invariably lead to forced displacement, forced labor and a loss of livelihoods.
URL:
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/business-in-china/100192059-1-protesters-call-suspension-china-myanmar-pipeline.html | 
