Asia Catalyst was proud to sign onto this letter, organized by Burmese NGOs, calling on China to suspend its plans to build oil and gas pipelines in ethnic regions of Burma. Already, the pipeline has caused dislocation, abuses and instability in the region. The press release follows, and more information is available at www.shwe.org.

115 Civil Society Groups Urge China to Suspend Disastrous Pipelines in Burma

115 civil society organizations and political parties from 20 countries today submitted
an open letter to China’s President Hu Jintao calling for the suspension of oil
and gas pipelines through Burma in order to prevent rights abuses and regional
instability, avoiding financial and image risks to China. Petitions were
submitted by the Shwe Gas Movement and its solidarity networks at Chinese
Embassies in Thailand, India, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia,
Australia, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK.

State-owned China National Petroleum
Corporation holds a majority stake in the construction of dual oil and gas
pipelines which will transfer oil shipped from the Middle East and Africa as
well as natural gas from the Shwe Gas fields in western Burma to China’s Yunnan
Province. The project will provide the military junta a minimum of 29 billion
US dollars over 30 yearsAbuses are already starting to surface in
the project area, including beatings of fishermen and fishing prohibitions in
the offshore drilling area as well as confiscation of land at the start of the
pipeline in Arakan State.

Burma ranks tenth in the world in terms of natural gas
reserves yet its per capita electricity consumption is less than 5% of neighbouring
Thailand and China, as it exports most
of its energy resources. Increased fuel prices led to country-wide
demonstrations in 2007, which were cracked down upon by the Burma Army.

“Land confiscation and other human rights abuses
in the pipeline corridor and exporting the oil and gas while people across the
country is facing energy shortages is a dangerous mix that will cause social
unrest and conflicts between local people and foreign corporations, says Wong
Aung, International Coordinator of Shwe Gas Movement.
Unresolved conflicts between the Burma
regime and ethnic ceasefire armies along the planned pipeline route in northern
Shan State led to a military offensive by the Burma Army in August forcing over
thirty thousand ethnic Kokang to escape to China.

Last month the Danish Pension Fund Danica
Pension blacklisted one of the main stakeholders in the Shwe project, Daewoo
International, citing a “breach of international guidelines in connection with
its activities in Burma.” Other pension funds are reported to be monitoring the
corporations involved in the Shwe gas pipelines project.

“China has the power to suspend this
project, and rather that being part of the problem, becoming part of a
long-term solution by promoting equitable development of the people of the two
nations and peace in the region,” says Kim, Shwe Gas Movement, India.