BurmaNet News, September 5-8, 2009

[Editor]

September 5-8, 2009 Issue #3792

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar pro-democracy party wants offices reopened
AFP via Straights Times: Suu Kyi to be released?
Irrawaddy: Peng Jiasheng’s fall from grace
Irrawaddy: Former KIO leaders prepare for 2010 election
SHAN: Wa leader chooses understudy
Mizzima: Abbot returning from Taiwan arrested
Khonumthung: Burmese troops sell rations and beg from civilians

ON THE BORDER
Bangkok Post: Influx of Wa, Shan likely as war looms
Xinhua: Over 14,200 Myanmar border inhabitants return to Kokang

BUSINESS / TRADE
IPS: With pipelines, China’s footprint in Burma expands
Upstreamonline.com: Gail talks up Burma-China pipe
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation: Government focuses on rising sugar prices

REGIONAL
The Korea Herald: Forums to explore democracy's challenges

OPINION / OTHER
American Enterprise Institute: Time to go ‘Down in Flames’ for Burma -
Jean Geran
The Weekly Standard: A Tangled Webb in Burma - Michael Goldfarb
Irrawaddy: Prelude to a Civil War? - Harn Yawnghwe

PRESS RELEASE
Shwe Gas Movement: New report: China ignoring grave risks of new energy
corridor through Burma

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 8, Associated Press
Myanmar pro-democracy party wants offices reopened

Yangon, Myanmar — The pro-democracy party of detained Myanmar opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on the ruling junta Tuesday to allow it to
reopen its branch offices, which would be crucial for taking part in next
year's planned national elections.
The junta has not held elections since 1990, when Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy won in a landslide but was not allowed by the
military to take power.

The NLD issued a statement saying the party had sent a letter to junta
chairman Senior Gen. Than Shwe on Friday noting that the party is a
legally registered organization but that its local offices had been sealed
and its activities restricted by the government.

The NLD has not yet decided whether to take part in next year's polls, for
which an exact date has not been set. In April, the party announced it
would consider participating if the junta meets demands that include Suu
Kyi's release from house arrest.

The declaration also asked the military to release all political
prisoners, amend undemocratic clauses in the constitution and hold free
and fair elections with international supervision.

The NLD did not rule out participating even if its demands were not met.

The government plans the 2010 elections as part of its seven-step "roadmap
to democracy," but has yet to introduce a political parties registration
law or an election law.

Suu Kyi, 64, was returned to house arrest last month after a court found
her guilty of violating the terms of her earlier detention when an
uninvited American visitor stayed at her home.

She has been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years and has not been
free since 2003, after a pro-junta mob attacked her and her followers as
she toured northern Myanmar.

After the attack, the government launched a crackdown on the NLD, closing
party offices throughout the country.

____________________________________

September 8, Agence France Presse via Straights Times
Suu Kyi to be released?

The party of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (left) said on
Tuesday it was hopeful that she would be unconditionally released after a
court agreed to hear an appeal against her recent conviction.

YANGON- THE party of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on
Tuesday it was hopeful that she would be unconditionally released after a
court agreed to hear an appeal against her recent conviction.

Lawyers for the Nobel laureate and the country's ruling junta are due to
present legal arguments on September 18, after Suu Kyi challenged last
month's guilty verdict for sheltering an American man who swam to her
lakeside home.

The regime has ordered her to spend another 18 months under house arrest,
softening the original sentence of three years' hard labour. However, the
house arrest is still long enough to keep Myanmar's opposition leader away
from the political scene during elections scheduled for 2010.

'There could be changes as the court has accepted our appeal,' said Nyan
Win, her lawyer and a spokesman for her National League for Democracy
(NLD), referring to Yangon divisional court's decision on Friday to hear
the case. 'We are hoping for her unconditional release, which is also what
we wanted.'

'We will meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi this week after we got permission
from the authorities. We need to get last instructions from her for the
final arguments,' Nyan Win said. Daw is a term of respect in Burmese.

The appeal would focus on the fact that a 1974 constitution under which
the 64-year-old was originally detained had been superseded by a new
constitution approved last year, her lawyers have said.

The guilty verdict sparked international outrage and the imposition of
further sanctions against Myanmar's powerful generals, who have already
kept Suu Kyi locked up for 14 of the past 20 years.

Suu Kyi insisted on her innocence during the trial held at Yangon's
notorious Insein Prison, saying that she allowed US military veteran John
Yettaw to stay for two nights at her home because he was ill.

Mr Yettaw was sentenced to seven years' hard labour for the stunt in early
May, but was freed after a visit by US senator Jim Webb last month on what
the regime said were compassionate grounds because of health problems.

____________________________________

September 8, Irrawaddy
Peng Jiasheng’s fall from grace - Aung Zaw

Kokang leader Peng Jiasheng, who is now on the run from his former friends
in the military regime, was one of the ethnic national leaders the Burmese
government showcased in meetings with visiting foreign officials or UN
officers.

But he is now a fugitive hiding from the military government that two
weeks ago launched a search for illegal arms and drugs in his stronghold
of Laogai.
Kokang leader Peng Jiasheng poses for a photograph with Kokang children at
a local festival on February 3.

A state-run newspaper declared that Peng Jiasheng cannot escape from the
“rule of law” and recommended that he surrender.

Now believed to be hiding in Wa territory, Peng Jiasheng and his group of
associates and militia will not easily surrender to the regime.

A Kokang Chinese, he was born in 1931 in Hong Seu Htoo village in Kokang
territory and served in the Kokang Revolutionary Force in 1960s. He was in
touch with members of the Communist Party of Burma who were active along
the China-Burma border.

Peng Jiasheng spent time in Beijing and upon his return, he entered Kokang
territory in January 1968 as a commander of the Kokang People’s Liberation
Army, a group that officially merged with the Burmese communists. He was
first involved in the heroin and drug trade during the 1970s.

In 1989, Peng Jiasheng took a bold step and his group led a mutiny within
the CPB and formed a Kokang armed group known as the Myanmar National
Democratic Alliance Army (MNDDA). Three years later, Peng Jiasheng group
was outmaneuvered by the Yang clan, Yang Molian and Yang Muxian, two
Kokang Chinese brothers who supported the CPB. Yang Muxian was executed in
Kunming in 1994 on drug trafficking charges. In later years, Peng Jiasheng
and the Yang group joined forces.

In any case, by 1989 Peng Jiasheng and his brother Peng Jiafu had reunited
with Asia’s renowned former drug trafficker Lo Hsing-han, who acted as a
go-between for the regime to negotiate with CPB mutineers.

The drug lord, Lo Hsing-han, who is a Kokang-Chinese, was arrested in 1973
in Thailand and deported to Burma, where he received a death sentence in
1976. He was released during an amnesty in 1980.

Settled in Rangoon, Lo Hsing-han and his son Tun Myint Naing (aka Steven
Law) set up Asia World Company—a company involved in the construction of
homes and hotels, Rangoon port development and highway construction. Both
father and son are now on the US sanction list.

Since Peng Jiasheng reached a ceasefire deal with the regime, the Kokang
Chinese leader was often seen meeting with senior military leaders and
visiting UN officials.

In the international press, Peng Jiasheng, like Wa leaders, is described
as one of Burma’s most prominent drug traffickers and is widely linked to
Chinese criminal gangs. However, the regime has protected him and all
other drug traffickers.

Over the years, this meant the illegal drug business boomed, and Peng
Jiasheng, Peng Jiafu and Lo Hsing-han controlled a large amount of the
illegal drug trade, enjoying their new status as government-recognized
militia commanders.

The Burma expert, Bertil Lintner, who has written several books on Burmese
drug trafficking and the ethnic insurgency, notes that under the blanket
amnesty, Peng and other Wa and Kokang Chinese leaders were involved in
laundering drug money into the local economy.

The Peace Myanmar Group, one of the companies on the US sanction list, is
connected to the Yang clan in Kokang.

It is believed that Peng Jiasheng has invested money through many Kokang
channels into businesses in Burma and China.

In April 2009, a report “Burma and Transactional Crime” by the US
Congressional Research Service stated that the regime has reportedly
allowed and encouraged traffickers to invest in an array of domestic
businesses, including infrastructure and transportation enterprises,
receiving start-up fees and taxes from these enterprises in the process.

The report said, “The traffickers usually deposit the earnings from these
enterprises into banks controlled by the military, and military officers
reportedly deposit much of their crime-related money in foreign bank
accounts in places like Bangkok and Singapore.

“In 2003, the Secretary of the Treasury reported that some Burmese
financial institutions were controlled by, or used to facilitate money
laundering for, organized drug trafficking organizations. In the same
report, the Secretary of the Treasury also stated that Burmese government
officials were suspected of being involved in the counterfeiting of U.S.
currency.”

The report said that though there is little direct evidence of top-level
regime members’ involvement in drug trafficking related corruption, “There
is evidence that high-level officials and Burmese military officers have
benefited financially from the earnings of transnational crime
organizations. In the case of the drug trade, reports indicate Burmese
military officials at various levels have several means to gain
substantial shares of narcotics trafficking earnings.”

With such a past, the recent regime accusations labeling Peng Jiasheng a
leader in the drug trade and illegal arms are nothing new.

However, it is interesting to note that the regime is singling out only
Peng Jiasheng’s notorious past.

The rest of the current and former ethnic drug traffickers including Lo
Hsing-han and the Wa leaders are still at-large, enjoying the benefits of
the ceasefire “peace” in Burma. At least, for now.

____________________________________

September 7, Irrawaddy
Former KIO leaders prepare for 2010 election - Saw Yan Naing

Five leaders of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) including Tu Ja
have resigned from their posts to prepare for the 2010 national election.

“We have separated from the KIO,” said Tu Ja, “and we will just focus on
organizing our party.”

He named his party the Kachin State Progressive Party when it was formed
in March 2009.

Tu Ja, who was vice chairman No 2, said he formed the party because
political reform is needed in Burma, and it is being initiated by the
military regime through its “seven-step roadmap” to democracy.

Tu Ja said that his party has the support of Kachin civilians.

The current KIO general secretary, La Ja, said the former leaders asked
for permission to resign from the KIO because they wanted to focus on the
election.

The KIO central committee approved the resignations during a meeting on
Aug 5 at KIO’s headquarters in Laiza that was attended by more than 300
Kachin civilians.

He said the KIO plans to propose that a “state government” be formed to
represent Kachin State after the 2010 general election and the formation
of a national government.

In a meeting in Myitkyina on July 8 between KIO leaders and regime
officials led by Maj-Gen Soe Win, the commander of the Northern Regional
Command and head of the regional transformation committee of the border
guard force, the KIO told the military government it planned to keep its
military wing, the KIA, autonomous and it rejected the order to join a
junta-dominated border guard force.

La Ja said the KIO will attempt to maintain its 1994 cease-fire agreement
with the military government.

Aung Wa, who is close to the KIO, said that Tu Ja’s political party will
probably retain close links with the KIO.

“If they [Tu Ja’s party] don’t have a connection with the KIO, it’s not
clear that the party would succeed,” said Aung Wa.

The KIO military wing has between 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers in five brigades
and one infantry division. KIA troops are stationed in Kachin State and
northern Shan State.

____________________________________

September 7, Shan Herald Agency for News
Wa leader chooses understudy

As the prospect of war with the Burma Army looms, the ailing Wa supreme
leader Bao Youxiang has recently chosen Zhao Zhongdang, known for his
proven fighting abilities, to look after the day to day political and
military affairs of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), according to sources
from the Wa capital Panghsang on the Sino-Burma border.

Sources did not say when his new appointment was given.

His official position in the Wa hierarchy is second Deputy Commander in
Chief. The first deputy is Ta Ai Lone.

Zhao’s latest assignment also means he will also take precedence over
Deputy Chairman Xiao Minliang and Zhao Wenguang in political matters. “Of
course, whatever  he wants to do, he will still need to consult with Bao
and obtain his consent first,” said a source close to the Wa leadership.

Prior to the ceasefire in 1989, he was commander of the 418th Division
operating in southern Shan State. “He made a lot of trouble for Col Hsang
Mon (one of Khun Sa’s commanders operating in the same area) with his
swift tactics (swift attack, swift withdrawal, swift concentration, swift
dispersal),” remembers Sao Yawdserk, leader of the Shan State Army (SSA)
‘South’. “The UWSA I think, will be decisive under him.”

He was married to Naw Htay (now deceased), second daughter of Shan
Nationalities Peoples Liberation Organization (SNPLO) leader Tarkeley.
“His years of experience in areas west of the Salween means he understands
political and social conditions in Shan State as a whole and not just the
Wa State where he comes from,” said another source.

Earlier, it was reported that Bao’s younger brother Youliang, head of the
Finance Department, would be handling the day to day affairs for him.

“To most Wa officers, Zhao Zhongdang may be a better choice than Bao
Youliang,” commented a source who had for years been doing business with
the Wa. “He has traveled more widely and his military experience is second
to none in the present leadership.”

The other leader indispensable to Bao Youxiang appears to be Wei Xuegang,
who is officially the Commander of the Thai border-based 171st Military
Region and the de facto finance head. “When I was recently invited to one
of the close door meetings,” recalled a Shan ceasefire leader, “there were
only Wei and Zhao apart from Bao.”

____________________________________

September 8, Independent Mon News Agency
Hot air balloon released bearing message condemning Burmese government - Asah

Mon youth released a traditional hot air balloon that was painted with a
statement condemning Burmese government oppression of Mon culture and its
pressure on the largest Mon political party to essentially give up its
arms.

On September 3rd, during the Buddhist “full-moon” holiday, Mon youth and
members of the Young Mon Monks organization launched a large traditional
Mon paper lantern filled with hot air, that was pained with a message that
stated the organizations stance against the ruling Burmese military
regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

According to group members, the statement on the lantern read, “We don’t
want the MNLA [Mon National Liberation Army] to become a border guard
force [BGF]. The military has the power now and we don’t want to be
slaves. They can do anything. Because of that we are not free.”

According to a young monk from Mon State, this balloon was made on this
holiday because the Military government has guaranteed itself 25 % of the
parliamentary seats when they rewrote the constitution in 2008.  Monks and
Mon youth though that after all, they heard that as they know, they want
resident know and putting against vote in coming 2010 election.

According to youth in one of the community groups, they are also angry
that when the Burmese government made the constitution, no provisions were
made for the Mon nation or Mon ethnic rights.

“Now we have released a big lantern and put a message on it because we
want to remove [the Burmese government’s] power through a legal government
in Burma,” said a source from a Mon youth organization. “And with the 2010
election approaching, it is not legal that they [Burmese government] have
made it all themselves. We want residents to know about the 2010 election
who don’t know about it yet.”

In 2008 the SPDC conducted a widely criticized constitutional referendum
to in conjunction with its 7 step road map to “disciplined democracy”.
Among many changes the constitution also required that all armed groups
must be under the control of the Burmese army.  To that end the SPDC has
been pressuring ethnic armed groups to turn their armed wings into BGF’s.

The Burmese government has been applying increased pressure on New Mon
State Party (NMSP) senior officials, to reduce the party’s armed wing, the
Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), to a BGF of just 326 members with 18
Burmese army officers. After having rejected the SPDC offer on August 5th,
NMSP officials again turned the Burmese military government down at a
meeting on August 28th.  The SPDC has yet to issue a reply.

“We released balloon and also put words on it. We said we don’t want to be
slaves to the Burmese Government and that we don’t like border guard
force,” explained the young monk.  “The military government does not give
the Mon Nation independence, [so] Monks and Mon youth are trying hard and
are still in opposition until we get it.”

The Mon Young Monks organization was started on October 19th, 2007 after
the 2007 “Saffron Revolution” in which monks protesting in Burma where
disbursed with violence by the Burmese military government. It is not
clear when the Mon youth groups began, as they tend to operate
independently of each other within their communities.

____________________________________

September 8, Mizzima News
Abbot returning from Taiwan arrested - May Kyaw

Chiang Mai – U Gaw Thita, an abbot belonging to the Leik Pyar Kan
monastery, Nga Htat Gyi pagoda was arrested at the Rangoon airport on his
way back from Taiwan.

He was arrested by intelligence personnel and police on August 29.

“He is a native of Kungyangon. He’s over 30 years old and sojourns at the
Leik Pyar Kan monastery. The abbot graduated from Dhama Siriya and is a
teaching monk in the monastery,” a monk who is close to the abbot said.

There are 24 buildings in the Leik Pyar Kan monastery in Nga Htat Gyi
pagoda, Bahan Township, Rangoon. It is learnt that the arrested abbot has
been teaching about 30 student monks.

Other monks staying in the monastery do not know his current whereabouts.
U Gaw Thita was taking part in reconstruction and rehabilitation work in
Cyclone Nargis hit areas.

“He went to Taiwan legally. We heard he is in custody and have been unable
to contact him. Inquiries are on about him,” a lay devotee close to the
abbot said.

As the second anniversary of the 2007 September Saffron Revolution draws
close, security has been beefed up in major pagodas and monasteries in
Rangoon since the end of last month. Police personnel are deployed at Ward
level Peace and Development Council offices at night.

According to the Thai-Burma border based ‘Association of Assistance to
Political prisoners’ – Burma (AAPPB), the junta arrested 158 monks after
the 2007 September Saffron Revolution and they were sentenced to various
terms in prison with a maximum punishment of 65 years.

____________________________________

September 8, Khonumthung News
Burmese troops sell rations and beg from civilians

Burmese Army personnel posted in Chin state are selling their rations –
rice, beans and milk, which they get from the central government, after
which they beg for food from the local people of Chin state, western
Burma.

A villager from Satu said that military personnel in the Satu-based LIB
140 camp had asked them to bring food from local villagers, last month.

“The military personnel had ordered the Chairman of the Block Peace and
Development Council to collect rice from every house. In fact, they had
already sold all their rations. Other soldiers in different villages also
do the same thing,” he added.

Currently, there are a total of 15 armed troops in Satu camp, eight of
them patrol the area and the rest stay in the camp under the Additional
Commander.

“They never bring food when they are patrolling around the villages, and
they beg for rice, chickens and vegetables from the local villagers. It
makes things very difficult for the people. This has been their practice
earlier also,” he said.

According to a source, sometimes the military personnel steal local
domestic animals, while the owners are in the fields for cultivation.
However, when the villagers try to take back their domestic animals, the
military personnel make excuses about security concerns and do not allow
them to enter their camp area.

Similarly, such acts are also taking place in Paletwa Township and other
parts of Chin state. Chin people in villages are struggling to survive
under the oppression of more than 30 military camps in Chin state.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 8, Bangkok Post
Influx of Wa, Shan likely as war looms

More than 50,000 Wa and Shan villagers are expected to flee to Thailand as
several battalions of Burmese troops have moved closer to a stronghold of
the United Wa State Army along the Thai-Burmese border in northern Chiang
Rai.

Burmese soldiers with heavy weapons, including mortars and RPG rocket
launchers, have been deployed to an area opposite the UWSA's stronghold
since Wednesday, said a source at the Shan State Army (SSA) yesterday.

If their stronghold was attacked, the Wa troops would be forced to retreat
into an area near the SSA's military base, said the source who served as a
military officer at the anti-Rangoon SSA.

The source predicted that Burma's offensive against ethnic rebels would
force more than 50,000 Shan and Wa villagers to flee over Thailand's
northern border.

The Third Army's Pha Muang task force has reportedly ordered its troops to
keep a close watch on Burma's ethnic minority groups and be on full alert
for possible incursions from the fighting.

Thai villagers living in the border areas prone to fighting would be moved
to a safer area if and when attacks begin.

Col Yod Serk, leader of the SSA, said Burma wanted to declare war on all
rebel groups following its recent offensive against the ethnic Kokang
rebel group, who call themselves the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance
Army (MNDAA).

Burma's next target was the area in Mong La border town before attacking
the UWSA in Burma's southern border opposite Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai
provinces, said Col Yod Serk.

His army would be the last target of Burma's attacks, he added.

He believed the military offensive was inevitable as Burma wanted to
create unrest as justification for delaying the next general elections in
the middle of next year.

A source said Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
had recently sent a letter to UWSA leaders in Pang Sang town demanding it
hand over Peng Jiasheng, a leader of the MNDAA, the UWSA's allies, and
several other leading members of the rebel group.

So far, there has been no reply from the UWSA, said the source.

Mr Peng, wanted by Burma on charges of operating an illegal firearms
factory and producing illicit drugs, has reportedly fled the Burmese
junta's hunt to an area controlled by the UWSA.

Reports that Burma has deployed troops near the UWSA's stronghold sparked
fears among Wa villagers that fighting would soon erupt.

Several thousand villagers had abandoned their villages in recent days,
said the source.

http://bangkokpost.net/news/local/23293/influx-of-wa-shan-likely-as-war-looms

____________________________________

September 8, Xinhua
Over 14,200 Myanmar border inhabitants return to Kokang

Yangon - Some 998 more Myanmar border inhabitants returned to Kokang
ethnic region from Chinese border area on Monday after fightings ended in
the region on Aug. 29, bringing the total of the returnees to their homes
to 14,253 as of Monday, state media reported Tuesday.

The Kokang local people came back to Laukkai, the capital of the Shan
State Special Region-1 (North) in northeastern Myanmar, through
Yanlonkyaing and Chinshwehaw border gates, said the New Light of Myanmar
newspaper.

According to official estimation, a total of 37,000 Kokang local
inhabitants fled days of fightings in late last month in the region to
Yunnan province, southwest of China, where they were provided with
humanitarian care by the Yunnan provincial government.

The runaway border inhabitants started to return homes on Aug. 31, a day
after the Myanmar government said that peace has been restored in the
region with local administrative machinery becoming normal.

The authorities also said trading in markets has resumed in Laukkai now.
"The town has returned to normal and shops, stores and markets are
reopened", official media said, adding that "Chicken and fish are sold at
mobile shops in the town".

The local administration is now controlled by the newly-formed "Kokang
Region Provisional Leading Committee" in Laukkai, led by the government.

The local ethnic army reached a ceasefire with the Myanmar government on
March 21, 1989 and was allowed to retain arms and enjoy conditional
self-administration.

Kokang, bordering China's Zhen Kung, Geng Ma, Meng Ding and Long Ling
areas, has a population of about 150,000.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 8, Inter Press Service
With pipelines, China’s footprint in Burma expands - Marwaan Macan-Markar

Bangkok - If military-ruled Burma needed a stark symbol of China’s growing
dominance in the country, then it would be poised to get one soon. The
Asian giant is about to start building two pipelines – for gas and oil –
that will span the breadth of the South-east Asian nation.

Little wonder why the nearly 1,000-kilometre route of the two pipelines -
which will begin on Burma’s western coast, facing the Andaman Sea, and
then head into China’s Yunnan province, that borders north-eastern Burma –
is already being described in ways that convey an unequal relationship
between the two countries.

"It is being called a ‘Colonial Pipeline’. This is what the people inside
Burma are saying about this project," said Aung Zaw, editor of ‘The
Irrawaddy’, a current affairs magazine and website published by Burmese
journalists living in exile in Thailand. "The pipeline symbolises the
relationship between the two countries."

"People in Burma believe that the Chinese influence in the economy, in
politics, and on the environment is growing," Aung Zaw told IPS. "But I
think both governments need each other. For Burma it is Chinese protection
and investment; for China it is Burmese resources to be exploited."

Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, has seen its relationship with
China improve over the past two decades. It follows the 1989 collapse of
the Communist Party of Burma, which had been backed by Beijing and had
been a thorn in the side of the Burmese military since it captured power
in a1962 coup.

Beijing’s investments in Burma, such as the planned pipelines, have been
most prominent in the strong ties between the two countries. China was a
major factor behind the spike in Burma’s foreign investment during the
2007-2008 period, estimated at over 980 million U.S. dollars, according to
Burma’s ministry of national planning and development.

The bulk of China’s investments has focused on tapping Burma’s oil and gas
reserves, in addition to investing in hydroelectricity projects. Burma is
reported to have the 10th largest natural gas reserves in the world.

Yet the planned Chinese pipelines could come to symbolise something more –
human rights violations and other abuses – if the Chinese went ahead with
their plans, warned the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM), a prominent environment
and human rights group.

"Past experience has shown that pipeline construction and maintenance in
Burma involves forced labour, forced relocation, land confiscation and a
host of abuses by soldiers deployed to the project area," argued SGM in a
report released this week. "Companies involved in the Shwe Gas Project and
the Trans-Burma Corridor will be complicit in any abuse associated with
these projects."

What is more, neither the Chinese company involved in this project nor
Burmese authorities backing it have conducted environmental impact
assessments (EIAs) or social impact assessments (SIAs), said Wong Aung,
author of the report, ‘Corridor of Power – China’s Trans-Burma Oil and Gas
Pipelines’. "They have not done EIAs or SIAs in public. No local people
are aware of them nor have they participated in them."

"There are a lot of environmental and social concerns that have not been
addressed," Wong Aung said in a telephone interview. "Yet the China
National Petroleum Corporation has plans to start building the pipelines
across Burma this month."

Similar worries are expressed by activists from the Shan ethnic community,
Burma’s largest minority, which has faced long years of brutality at the
hands of the Burmese military. The Shan State, along the Burma-China
border, will see the pipelines cut through it along a route that locals
are still not aware of.

"This will be another attempt by the Burmese army to control an ethnic
group and their land," said Charm Tong, a founding member of Shan Women’s
Action Network, a human rights group that has documented rapes of hundreds
of Shan women and girls by Burmese soldiers. "Apart from the environmental
impact, we are concerned about the human rights violations. Many will be
displaced."

"And like before, the victims have no mechanism to address their concerns
when the abuse begins," Charm Tong revealed in an interview. "This is not
new in Burma; there was the Yadana pipeline."

The Yadana pipeline was built to tap the natural gas in the Andaman Sea
and supply it through a pipeline that cut across southern Burma to
neighbouring Thailand. That project, which got underway in the early
1990s, was exposed for a dismal list of human rights violations, such as
forced labour, land confiscation, forced relocation, rape, torture and
murder.

The perpetrators were the pipeline security forces hired by the companies
involved in this Burma’s first gas pipeline, including the French energy
giant Total and the U.S.-owned Unocal, which was subsequently bought by
Chevron. The victims were predominantly from Burma’s Karen ethnic
community.

The human rights violations linked to the Yadana gas pipeline added to
Burma’s already notorious record of abuse. But it did little to change a
regime that saw its foreign exchange coffers expand, earning an estimated
3.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2008 for the export of its gas, primarily to
Thailand.

According to the SGM report, Burma’s regime could rake in close to 30
billion U.S. dollars over the next 30 years for the sale of natural gas to
China once the new pipeline is built. The gas to be extracted for this
route is close to the shores of Burma’s north-western coast.

The oil pipeline, however, will be moving fuel that will be first shipped
from the Middle East to a soon-to-be-built deep sea port along Burma’s
western coast, consequently saving the time and distance of the routes
these oil tankers take through the busy Malacca Straits. China imports
over 80 percent of its oil from the Middle East and Africa, according to
reports.

Both pipelines will cut through Burma’s Arakan sate and ascend up the
thickly forested Arakan Yoma mountain range – which rises to 5,000 feet
above sea level at its highest. From there, they will pass through large
swathes of the Magway and Mandalay Divisions, in central Burma, before
snaking through the Shan State to Kunming, the capital of China’s southern
province of Yunnan.

"The pipelines will pass through 22 townships along the route," said Wong
Aung. "There will be 44 military battalions, or about 13,200 soldiers,
assigned to guard the pipelines."

____________________________________

September 8, Upstreamonline.com
Gail talks up Burma-China pipe

Indian state-run gas transporter Gail is exploring the possibility of
laying a pipeline to China from Burma, where it has 10% stake in two
blocks, company’s chairman BC Tirpathi said today.

The 890-kilometre pipeline is expected to cost $1.5 billion and Gail's
decision to invest depends on issues such as return on investment and
associate rights over the project, Reuters quoted Tripathi as telling
reporters after a shareholder meeting.

"There is a proposal from Kogas and Daewoo (the other stakeholders) to lay
a pipeline from west of Burma to east of China, but a final decision may
take some time because we have to see return on investment also," said
Tripathi.

Gail’s head of finance, RK Goel, said China Gas Holdings could also join
the consortium.

"We have already taken approval from the Myanmar government and the
existing consortium to permit our alliance to associate in the joint
venture," Goel said.

The Daewoo-led consortium recently decided to go ahead with its 4 trillion
won ($3.2 billion) A-1 and A-3 development off Burma that will export
pipeline gas to neighbour China.

The decision means that China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will
start building a major gas pipeline as early as this month to initially
deliver gas from the Shwe (Gold) field to cities in south-western China.

Daewoo and its partners will supply 500 million cubic feet of gas per day
for 30 years from 2013 through the pipeline to China's border province of
Yunnan.

The plans have met fierce opposition from local activists who argue that
the Burmese people are facing severe shortages in energy and the resources
belong to the people of Burma.

Violent clashes between Burma's ruling junta and Kokang ethnic armies near
its border with China last week saw thousands of refugees fleeing to
China's Yunnan province, and could prompt CNPC to delay construction of a
transnational gas pipeline.

The violence that erupted in August in the north-eastern Shan state is
near the site for CNPC's parallel oil and gas pipelines - the latter to
deliver gas from Daewoo International's A-1 and A-3 project off Burma.

Beijing has urged Burma to resolve the conflict, which brought to an end a
20-year ceasefire between the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance -
representing the Kokang - and government troops.

Partners in the project are operator Daewoo, India's Oil & Natural Gas
Corporation, Gail, Kogas and Burma's national Myanmar Oil & Gas
Enterprise.

____________________________________

September 8, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation
Government focuses on rising sugar prices.

The Ministry of Trade says frequent discussions are taking place regarding
the regulation of sugar prices. Several measures are to be taken in the
coming days to grant relief to the consumer. Ministry Secretary Lalith R.
Silva said measures are in place to import sugar from Myanmar.

Commenting on sugar prices Chairman of the Pelawatta sugar company
Ariyasheela Wickremanayake said the price of a kilo of imported sugar at
the Colombo harbour is around 83 rupees. Therefore, this could be sold at
around 88 rupees but certain traders sell a kilo of sugar at 95 rupees.
Mr. Wickremanayake said the whole sale price of a kilo of sugar of the
company is 70 rupees but even this is sold at over 90 rupees

____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 8, The Korea Herald
Forums to explore democracy's challenges

Democracy practitioners, experts and activists from Asia, Europe and the
United States will discuss ways to promote the development and spread of
democracy at two international forums in Seoul.

The nonprofit Korea Democracy Foundation and the U.S. Embassy in Seoul
open Seoul Democracy Forum for a three-day run beginning today.

Participants will explore the challenge the financial crisis is posing to
democratic systems and the mutually complementary relations between
democracy and economic growth.

The forum will also look into Korea's decades of struggle to achieve
today's vibrant democracy and discuss the prospect and strategies to
promote democracy across Asia and around the rest of world.

The conference is co-organized with two private non-profit U.S.
organizations committed to promoting democracy worldwide; the Center for
International Private Enterprise and the National Endowment for Democracy.

The KDF and the Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe will hold the
Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy from Sept. 13-16.

The forum will discuss practices and procedures of direct democracy in
various countries and how they will contribute to the health and
sustainability of democracy.

"In times of crisis, democracy and its values have at times been
overlooked for 'better and efficient' results. The world knows from
experience, however, that without democratic good governance, broad-based
economic growth is hampered," said Ham Sei-ung, KDF president and a
leading democratization movement leader of the nation.

At the Seoul Democracy Forum today, Khin Ohmar, foreign affairs secretary
of the Forum for Democracy in Burma, will deliver a special message on
behalf of Myanmar pro-democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Keynote speakers include Oh Joon, chairman of Asia-Pacific Democracy
Partnership of Korea; Christopher Camponovo, senior adviser to the
assistant state secretary of democracy, human rights and labor of the
United States; and Kim Bettcher, knowledge management officer of the
Center for International Private Enterprise.

The forum's themes include participatory democracy in last year's U.S.
presidential election, democratic governance for sustainable economies,
tradition and political culture in Asia, analyses on 2008-09 elections in
Asia, and local governance. It will also review Korea's democratization
and the possibility for sharing Korea's experiences with the rest of the
region.

The Global Forum on Direct Democracy will be the second of its kind - the
first was held in Aarau, Switzerland in October 2008.

"The trend is clear the direct-democratic procedures have become key
elements of a modern representative democracy. In many cases, however, as
a result of unfavorable background conditions -- such as limited freedom
of information and lack of free expression of opinion, or impractical
direct-democratic procedures-initiatives and referendums are not
necessarily seen as a positive complement to representative democracy, but
rather as a competitor or even a threat," the organizer said.

The forum will also formulate concrete procedures of direct citizen
participation, which can strengthen global governance.

By Hwang Jang-jin (jjhwang at heraldm.com)

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 5, The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute
Time to go ‘Down in Flames’ for Burma - Jean Geran

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said that after the Rwanda genocide she swore
‘that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side
of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required.’ She faces
such a crisis again.

After six months, the Obama administration’s review of U.S. policy toward
Burma still does not appear to have focused on the one measure with the
best chance of inducing the regime to change: a global arms embargo
imposed by the United Nations Security Council. The case for Security
Council action on Burma long has been compelling, but now is even
stronger.

General Than Shwe and the military junta ruling Burma continue to wage a
war against their own people. Recently, thousands of Burmese from the
Kokang ethnic group living near Burma’s northeastern border have fled to
China to escape a new military assault by the Burma army. Not only is the
regime a threat to its own people, but there are growing signs that it
undermines international security and stability as well. For example, the
growing military relationship between Burma and North Korea likely
includes North Korean support for a nascent nuclear program in Burma. Even
China, long one of the junta’s most quietly consistent supporters, this
week became sufficiently frustrated with the junta's reckless rule to
issue a rebuke to Burma’s generals for provoking refugee flows across the
border into China’s Yunnan Province.

As the United States assumes the presidency of the UN Security Council
this month, it should renew a diplomatic effort at the council,
coordinated with the United Kingdom and other allies, to pass a
long-overdue arms embargo of Burma. This at least would deny the ruling
junta its primary tools of oppression and help stop the atrocities it
commits against its own people. It will not be easy. But such a push would
be an effective, multilateral, and noble centerpiece for the Obama
administration’s policy toward Burma because both the justification for
Security Council action and its chances for success have significantly
increased.

If the collective suffering and human misery were to be added up, the
crisis in Burma’s ethnic regions would dwarf many other mass atrocities,
perhaps even Darfur.

Unfortunately, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the State Department
seem to have allowed themselves once again to be distracted by the
all-too-familiar delaying tactics of the Burmese generals and by circular
policy debates about sanctions, levels of engagement, and humanitarian
aid. Western governments often fall into this paralyzing internal
argument, and the only winners are Than Shwe and his henchmen. The
short-lived outcry over Aung San Suu Kyi’s ridiculous trial and
re-sentencing has died down while the debate over economic sanctions and
“diplomatic engagement” has been renewed by Senator Jim Webb’s recent
misguided trip to Burma. While his humanitarian mission succeeded in
freeing the imprisoned American John Yettaw, Webb’s trip otherwise only
served to embolden the generals and to undermine Aung San Suu Kyi and the
other 2,000-plus political prisoners in Burma.

Meanwhile, the situation for Burma’s people gets worse, not better. The
massive human rights abuses by the Burmese military against civilians,
often women and children, in ethnic minority regions of the country
continue unabated and yet seem to barely register in the international
media. These abuses are so severe, pervasive, and well-documented in
official UN reports and resolutions that a Harvard Law School assessment
commissioned by five prominent jurists from around the world has called
for the Security Council to establish a commission of inquiry into crimes
against humanity in Burma. If the collective suffering and human misery
were to be added up—all the victims, the destruction, the rape, the lost
limbs, the child soldiers, the refugees, and those displaced over the past
six decades—the crisis in Burma’s ethnic regions would dwarf many other
mass atrocities, perhaps even Darfur. Yet six decades of civil war and
accompanying war crimes are still neglected by this post-Rwanda,
purportedly “never again” generation.

The United States should renew a diplomatic effort at the UN Security
Council, coordinated with the United Kingdom and other allies, to pass a
long-overdue arms embargo of Burma.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice would lead any push on
Burma at the Security Council and knows all too well the costs of not
doing enough. In the Clinton administration, Rice served on the National
Security Council during the Rwandan genocide. In a 2001 Atlantic Monthly
article on the genocide, author Samantha Power (who, incidentally, is now
the lead staff member on UN Affairs at the National Security Council)
quotes Rice as saying, “I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a
crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down
in flames if that was required.” Unfortunately, the State Department’s
insipid statement this week on the current military assault in Burma notes
only that State is “monitoring developments carefully” and is “deeply
concerned.” During the several years I worked on Burma human rights policy
at the State Department, it was well known internally (almost as gallows
humor) that anytime an official statement included phrases such as
“monitoring developments carefully” and “deeply concerned,” the real
meaning was “we are doing little to nothing.” But doing nothing should not
be an option.

Of course, China remains a challenge at the Security Council, and has used
its veto to block action on Burma in the past. China also remains the
largest arms supplier to the Burmese regime. But Beijing’s calculations
seem to be changing now that its national interests are implicated
directly by thousands of refugees crossing its border. Even if the current
refugee crisis abates, conflict conditions make future displacements
likely. The fighting between the Burmese military and the Kokang and Wa
armies is just the latest, most visible manifestation of growing unrest in
ethnic regions. The regime’s planned “elections” in 2010 are being forced
down the throats of all the ethnic minority groups with which the regime
has maintained ceasefire agreements. Ethnic leaders from these groups who
attended the tightly controlled constitution-drafting process in recent
years to prepare for these supposed elections experienced the sham
firsthand. Rumblings are also spreading over the Burmese military’s push
to transform ceasefire groups into a border-guard force under its direct
command. Up until now, most ceasefire agreements with ethnic armies
allowed some level of command and control by ethnic leaders themselves.
The border guard would end that, and now more than just the Kokang are
threatening to take up arms again. This is very bad news for China. If
China realizes that Aung San Suu Kyi is not only the best hope for
democracy in Burma, but also for the border stability it prizes so highly,
then Security Council action should become more palatable. Without China’s
opposition, Russia would also drop its veto threat.

Senator Webb’s trip emboldened the generals and undermined Aung San Suu
Kyi and the other 2,000-plus political prisoners in Burma.

At the 2005 UN World Summit, world leaders first articulated the
“responsibility to protect” as official UN doctrine. The power to
intervene has always existed within the Security Council’s mandate, but
this new language stipulated the conditions to prompt such intervention.
The situation in Burma more than meets those conditions. With increasing
public support, including across Asia, and with a coordinated diplomatic
effort led by the United States to bring around China and Russia, a global
arms embargo against the junta is possible. And for the people of Burma,
it is essential.

Jean Geran is a senior fellow at the Legatum Institute. She served as the
director for democracy and human rights on the National Security Council
and as an abuse prevention officer on the U.S. Disaster Assistance
Response Team in southern Iraq.

FURTHER READING: Geran previously wrote “No Hugs for the Thugs in Burma”
on why Secretary of State Clinton should not go wobbly on the junta.

____________________________________

Sept 5, The Weekly Standard
A Tangled Webb in Burma - Michael Goldfarb

Senator Jim Webb, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's
East Asia and Pacific Affairs subcommittee, has taken a real interest in
the Obama administration's approach to dealing with Burma's military
junta. Earlier this year, he placed a "hold" on the nomination of
now-confirmed Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific
Affairs Kurt Campbell--an uncontroversial pick with bipartisan
support--that was so strong a North Korean nuclear detonation couldn't
break it. According to a source familiar with the confirmation process, it
was only after multiple, pleading calls from Secretary of State Clinton
that Webb was finally convinced to allow the nomination to move forward in
late June.

As Webb made clear at Campbell's confirmation hearing, during which he
quizzed Campbell for 15 minutes on 2010 "elections" in Burma and the role
of sanctions in penalizing this brutal regime, he views these planned
elections as a potential opening for Burma's democracy movement, and he
believes U.S. sanctions have been ineffective.

If Webb was trying to get some concession from Clinton in exchange for
releasing his hold on the Campbell nomination, the evidence that he
succeeded might be found in Clinton's statements a month later, when she
attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations security conference in
Thailand. There Clinton made news when she talked of the possibility that
the United States might "expand our relationship with Burma, including
investments in Burma." This was a major shift for Clinton, who as a
senator had never objected to the annual and routine reauthorization of
sanctions against Burma in the Senate by unanimous consent.

So rather than take on town hall protesters in Virginia during the August
recess, Webb used his break to conduct a tour of Asia, where he gained
headlines for his foray into Burma or, as that country's military junta
and Webb call it, Myanmar. There, Webb was the first U.S. official ever to
meet with the country's reclusive supreme leader, General Than Shwe.

Webb was also granted special permission to visit Nobel laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the last 20 years confined in her home by a
regime that is in a bitter fight with North Korea for the title of most
repressive in the world. She is kept virtually incommunicado and was
recently convicted of sheltering John Yettaw, an American who was arrested
after a bizarre attempt to contact Suu Kyi by swimming to her lakefront
home. This new conviction has earned Aung San Suu Kyi at least another 18
months of confinement. Webb scored a coup of sorts when Yettaw was allowed
to leave the country with him.

Believing that Burma could be coaxed out of its self-imposed isolation
through economic and political engagement, Webb stated in a follow-up
press conference (one of at least three) that it was his "clear impression
from [Suu Kyi] that she is not opposed to lifting some sanctions" and that
"there would be some areas she would be willing to look at."

This statement shocked and outraged members of Burma's democracy movement,
as it seemed to reflect a major shift for Suu Kyi, who is barred from
meeting with anyone except her doctor and a lawyer. Suu Kyi's attorney,
Nyan Win, was dispatched to get a straight answer and blasted out this
reply: "She replied that she had not discussed the issue [sanctions] with
anyone recently."

Did she or didn't she? Webb has been strangely quiet ever since. A press
aide said Webb's comments in Burma were a "careful, respectful statement
based on their conversation, and there's no need to say anything further."
One Burma watcher said, however, that it was the first time in two decades
that he could remember Suu Kyi issuing a statement clarifying what she
said--or in this case, hadn't said.

And those "elections" Webb has so much faith in? They would take place
under a "constitution" that was adopted in May 2008--just days after a
cyclone that killed thousands of Burmese--and permanently enshrines
military rule. According to the Burmese junta's official figures, despite
the country's being devastated by the worst cyclone in its history,
turnout for the 2008 constitutional referendum was 98 percent, with a
whopping 93 percent in favor of the constitution.

Webb once wrote a book called Born Fighting. But when it comes to the
long-suffering people of Burma, he doesn't seem to have much fight in him.

____________________________________

September 7, Irrawaddy
Prelude to a Civil War? - Harn Yawnghwe

Many were surprised by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
attack against the Kokang forces.

Some had been so preoccupied with the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi that they
were not even aware of the impending crisis. Others could not understand
why the Burmese military would turn against their allies who have had a
cease-fire agreement for more than 20 years.

Yet others thought that the Burma Army would never dare to incur the wrath
of China. After all, had the Chinese not, in June, requested Vice-Snr-Gen
Maung Aye to maintain stability on the border? This development was
especially surprising to those who were convinced that Burma is a client
state of China.

This failure to anticipate events underscores the weakness of the Burmese
democracy movement, in particular, and the international community, in
general.

We have often failed to understand the strategy and plans of the ruling
military government. We have looked at their actions through our own
prisms and misinterpreted their intentions. We have tended to see SPDC
pronouncements as propaganda and have not paid enough attention to what it
is planning to do.

Nobody is happy with military rule in Burma so we dismiss the SPDC “road
map” to democracy and its constitution. But how many of us have actually
studied the constitution in detail, not to criticize it, but to see how
the military actually plans to implement its “road map” policies and how
we can use its plans to our advantage?

In 2004, the SPDC announced the “road map,” and last year it announced
plans for an election in 2010. We were outraged when the referendum was
held two weeks after Cyclone Nargis had devastated the delta and Rangoon.
We would not have been surprised had we realized that Snr-Gen Than Shwe
takes the “road map” seriously.

He will not allow anything to stand in its way. A series of recent events
has also taken some of us unaware—he release of U Win Tin; the first ever
post-1990 congress of the National League for Democracy (NLD);  Aung San
Suu Kyi’s trial, the unseasonable attack on the Karen National Union; the
attack on Kokang and now possibly an attack on the Wa.

These seem to be the random acts of a paranoid and unpredictable leader—he
image we like to portray of Snr-Gen Than Shwe. But in reality, all these
events have a common goal: the success of the 2010 elections. They are the
rational outworking of a well-calculated and orchestrated operation plan
of the SPDC.

The proposal to the ethnic cease-fire groups to transform themselves into
Border Guard Forces (BGF) under the control of the Burma army is also an
attempt to clear the decks before the 2010 elections. It was meant to
either provoke the cease-fire groups to reject the proposal and be
destroyed or frighten them into submission and acceptance of the SPDC road
map.

It is clear that the BGF proposal was a provocation. This is because
during the past 20 years, nothing of this matter was ever discussed with
the cease-fire groups. They were told they could keep their arms and could
negotiate with the newly elected government on the political terms they
wanted.

Suddenly, in April they were told they had until October 2009 to decide.
Analyzing the ceasefires, it is clear that the SPDC never meant to
negotiate. The plan was to stop hostile action, provide incentives to
entice individual commanders to split from the main groups and slowly
weaken the ethnic groups to the point where they could be easily
eliminated.

The cease-fire groups cannot accept the BGF because it is actually a plan
to destroy the groups by attrition. But if they refuse to accept the
proposal, they will be destroyed now, before the elections. The Kokang
(MNDAA), the Wa (UWSA) and the Mongla (NDAA) groups rejected the BGF
proposal and also refused to accept the SPDC’s road map and constitution.
They do not want any changes. Therefore, if nothing changes, the SPDC will
move against the UWSA and the NDAA. Which group will be attacked first
will depend on the tactical advantage.

What about China? Is the SPDC not beholden to China? The short answer
is—no. Whatever we may think about the SPDC, the Burma Army is very proud
of the fact that it is “patriotic.” The SPDC has never danced to the tune
of a foreign power. It has, rather, made foreign powers big and small
dance to its tune. Since the SPDC has been largely ostracized
internationally, it has had to depend on China.

But it was never happy about it. When Burma was discussed at the UN
Security Council and it had to depend even more on China, the SPDC began
to cultivate Russia, so that it would not be at China’s mercy. But Snr-Gen
Than Shwe’s problem was solved when John Yettaw decided to take a swim. He
enabled the SPDC to ensure that Aung San Suu Kyi would have no role in the
election, and he also enabled Than Shwe to raise the stakes and create a
direct link with the Obama administration.

This in turn gave Than Shwe the card he needed to ignore China’s wishes
and move against the Kokang and Wa.

If Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s calculations are correct, the SPDC will be able to
wipe out the Wa and Mongla groups, and the 2010 elections can be held on a
less contentious playing field according to schedule.

 The unpredictable factor, of course, is how much resistance the Wa army
will offer. And what the reaction of the other cease-fire groups will be.
Some like the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the New Mon
State Party (NMSP) are in the process of negotiating with the SPDC over
the BGF issue.

Other groups like the KNU and the Shan State Army (South) are watching
closely to see how the battle develops. If Than Shwe’s calculations are
wrong, Burma could face a period of serious instability and the 2010
elections will be jeopardized.

But on the other hand, the SPDC may have decided that the elections could
actually lead to democratization, and it is trying to create a pretext to
postpone the elections indefinitely.

Harn Yawnghwe is executive director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

September 7, Shwe Gas Movement
New report: China ignoring grave risks of new energy corridor through Burma

A new report “Corridor of Power” by the Shwe Gas Movement exposes how
China is plunging ahead with construction of nearly 4,000 kilometers of
dual oil and gas pipelines across the heartland of Burma despite financial
and political risks from social unrest, re-ignition of fighting along the
route and potential public relations disasters.

China’s largest oil and gas producer – the China National Petroleum
Corporation – is set to begin construction this month. The pipelines 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 years.

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.

“People across Burma are facing severe energy shortages and this massive
energy export will only fuel social unrest. These resources belong to our
people and should be used for the energy needs of our country,” says Wong
Aung, spokesperson of the Shwe Gas Movement.

The report unveils the detailed pipeline route from Arakan State to the
China border as well as impending human rights abuses and environmental
destruction, and analyzes the risks faced by the corporations, governments
and investors involved in the project.

“The Burmese regime’s recent attacks near the pipeline route in northern
Shan State and the exodus of 30,000 refugees into China show how volatile
the area is,” says Wong Aung. “This is yet another example of how the
regime is destabilizing the region.”

To feed China’s natural gas pipeline, an Indo-South Korean consortium led
by Daewoo International will simultaneously construct offshore production
platforms, an underwater pipeline to the Arakan coast and an onshore gas
terminal.

“These corporations as well as the Chinese, South Korean and Indian
governments are complicit in human rights abuses related to this project
and will be held liable,” says Wong Aung. “We are calling for an immediate
suspension of this project.”

For further details, contact Mr Wong Aung at the Shwe Gas Movement Tel:
+66-87-3008354 or e-mail global at shwe.org

An embargoed PDF version of the report and selected 300 dpi photos are
available on request. The report and a detailed pipeline route map will be
available on www.shwe.org on Monday September 7, 2009.