Posts tagged Oil

Rebels, Resources, Religion

By Martin Saxer | February 3, 2012

It is sometimes difficult to follow and make sense of the events in the conflict between the Kachin army and government troops in northern Burma. The Democratic Voice of Burma reports that

Burmese soldiers have been withdrawn from conflict zones in Kachin state as both sides push for ceasefire talks, but reports from nearby Shan state suggest extra battalions have been deployed to guard the lucrative China-backed Shwe pipeline.

After the decision to halt construction of the Mytsone dam, the Shwe oil and gas pipelines is the most important piece of Chinese investment in Burma. The two pipelines are currently under construction and the first gas is expected to flow in April 2013. According to the report, the project will eventually account for around 6 percent of China’s total energy needs.
ChinaAID, a US-based Christian NGO, reports that around 40,000 refugees from the conflict zone have crossed the border to Yunnan. The NGO cites a pastor:

For many years, Burmese Christians who do business and have relatives in Yingjiang have regularly attended our church services.  And brothers and sisters here also frequently travel to Burma to visit relatives and friends. In fact, we and they are as close as flesh and blood.

ChinaAID calls out to “to brothers and sisters in China and overseas” for prayers and financial assistance.
At the same time, the Yunnan International Power Investment Co. invests in a new church, as Pal Nyiri notes in his blog:

Yunnan International Power Investment Co., a daughter of China State Grid, inaugurated a Baptist church at the resettlement village built for villagers resettled from the site of the now-suspended Myitsone Dam. Does that mean that those already resettled will stay where they are?

Rebels, (Christian) religion, and (energy) resources – an all important triangle.

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Afghan oil and Orientalism

By Martin Saxer | January 6, 2012

On 25 December, Hakeem Naim published a long article on how Orientalist rhetoric is over and over recycled in Afghanistan:

The myths of Afghanistan perfectly reflect the ontological conception of today’s Orientalism. Afghanistan has been the exotic land of beauty, romance, courage, and unconquerable tribes. She is rich, resourceful, and “pretty promising.” She can be “modern”, “free”, and “democratic” as long as the “west” conquers her, controls her or is in bed with her.

A day later, the Afghan cabinet agreed to let China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) exploit natural gas and oil in country’s northeast. On 29 December, the deal was signed; according to CNTV it could earn Afghanistan $7 billion over the next 25 years.

American blogger Ron Beasly was quick to ask: “Is US blood and treasure making Afghanistan safe for Chinese exploitation?” His suggestion is that America should now withdraw and leave the problem of Afghan security to the Chinese. Pakistani analyst Syed Fazl-e-Haider (The National) writes that China is indeed working on a plan to defend its Afghan investments in resource projects (they are learning from their experience in Sudan).

Naim, Beasly, Fazl-e-Haider – three very different worlds of thought. I wonder if they read each other.

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Hannah Beech: The New Great Game

By Martin Saxer | July 26, 2011

Hannah Beech for Time Magazin:

This year, Kazakhstan’s trade with China will likely surpass its trade with Russia; Hu has predicted trade levels will double within four years to $40 billion. “The whole of Kazakhstan has a population that’s smaller than one of our big cities,” says Liu Wei, a Sinopec employee in Atyrau, referring to the Central Asian nation’s 16 million people. “But it has so many natural resources. What’s the problem if we want to buy them and help make Kazakhstan rich?”

But money is just part of the equation. China is leveraging its growing clout in neighboring Kazakhstan to put pressure on the tens of thousands of ethnic Uighurs who over the decades have fled across the border from Xinjiang to escape persecution by the Chinese. Central Asia’s latest Great Game thus has it all: intense competition among three big powers, high stakes for natural resources and communal strife. But there is little question about who is now ahead in the game. Says Nurlan Keikin, the managing director for capital construction and reconstruction at the Atyrau refinery: “We all know the future is China’s.”

It’s a good read but I am sceptical about the new Great Game thesis. The 19th century Great Game was one between two empires – the British and the Russian. Today, there are more powers involved and Central Asian polititians take a much more active part in playing the different interests against each other. Kazakhstan, for example, is also part of the Customs Union with Russia and has its own agenda in the recent energy row between Russia and Kyrgyzstan. There is nothing to win for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan in taking sides with either Russia or China. There is nothing to loose enganging with both.

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