China-Myanmar pipeline project to begin amid criticism
- Source: Global Times
- [09:10 September 09 2009]
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By Zuo Xuan
Despite a fresh wave of criticism on a joint pipeline project between China and Myanmar, analysts still expect it to get underway this month.
According to the Foreign Affairs Office of Yunnan Province, the oil-pipeline deal was signed March 26.
The route of the project, at a total length of 2,806 kilometers, will start at Kyauk Phyu, a major city of Western Myanmar's Rakhine State, running through the central city of Mandalay to Ruili in Yunnan Province. It will transport about 20 million tons of crude oil annually. Reuters and Bloomberg news services both quoted an activist group Monday as saying that there will be instability and civil unrest if the Myanmar government continues starving its people of energy.
The Shwe Gas Movement, 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 that the regime had no concerns about providing stability for investors, Reuters reported.
"China is not afraid of the threat and criticism," a Chinese official familiar with the issue told the Global Times on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak. "When Myanmar was constructing a pipeline to Thailand in the 1990s, Myanmar activists also criticized the government, but the voice is barely heard now."
According to the official, the project was jointly explored by the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation, as well as a Korean company and a Myanmar company.
Dong Xiucheng, an oil-strategy specialist at the China University of Petroleum who said the project is unlikely to be stopped, given the contract, provided two reasons for concerns, particular those among Western nations.
First, the Western countries that say Myanmar is "undemocratic" wish to stop any country from doing business with the Myanmar government, he said, adding that the pipeline will enhance energy stability in China, and he believes countries don't want this to happen.
"To diversify the energy supply is a key point of China's energy-safety strategy. It isn't strange that China is thinking about building pipelines in Pakistan and Iran so oil from the Middle East can be transported," Dong said. "These projects will benefit countries that the pipelines go through because they can share the pipe or charge transmission fees."
According to Reuters, China will be charged at least $29 billion over 30 years for the deal.
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, the news agency said.
Agencies contributed to this story
