Press Release

January 26, 2009

Arakanese from Union of Burma Protest in Front of the Chinese Embassy on Jan. 27, 2009 in Malaysia

 

Arakanese in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will hold a protest in front of the Chinese embassy at 11.30 AM on January 27, 2009 against Arakan-Yunnan gas pipeline project.

2.       On December 24, 2008,  the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has signed an agreement with the Burmese military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), on December 24, 2008 to pipe out gas from Arakan State, western Burma, to Yunnan Province, west China, for a 30-year, starting from 2013. Burma had an estimated 21.19 trillion cubic feet of nature gas reserves on A-1 and A-3 blocks. The pipeline project is worth US $2.5 billion.   AUGPC  conservatively estimated that the pipeline is length 950 Kilometer from Arakan State to Yunnan province: offshore route from A1-A3 Block to Kyautphu is 50 Kilometers; onshore pipeline from Kyautphu to Ruli is 500 Kilometers, and from Ruli to Kumaing is 400 Kilometer long.

3.       The stakeholder for the gas exploration and development are:  South Korean company Daewoo holds 51%, Korea Gas Corp 8.5%, Indian state firm ONGC Videsh 17%, and GAIL 8.5%, and SPDC's  Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise has 15%.

4.       Hyundai Heavy Industries-Doris Engineering and Technip-Samsung Heavy Industries are joining with the SPDC and China state firm CNPC to develop the gas and to construct the pipeline.

5.       Actually impact on the people of Arakan and the people of Burma by Chinese gas deal with the regime are that the repressive regime is prolonging power, and a few military generals are becoming wealthier. Over 50 million people are suffering, and their dream to restore democracy, human rights.

6.        Under the SPDC, life is Arakan State is hellish. The Arakan people are being subject to the political repression, human rights abuses, use of forced labors, rape, torture, extra judicial killing, ethnic cleansing, land confiscation, extra taxation, heavily militarization, restriction of freedom of movements and freedom of expression, and cultural destruction. Four million people in the state are starving, jobless, and the lowest living standard among 7 states and 7 divisions of Union of Burma: only one university with a few instructors; only one operational hospital in Capital City Sittway with a few learn-on-the-job doctors; 6 percent access to motor generating electricity for 6 hours per day; only a 4 hundreds kilometer vehicle assessment roads. 

7.       The Arakanese people should be the sole decision makers for the gas deals, including any other natural resource extraction from Arakan State.  The resources in Arakan state should be used to improve the quality of life for those who live there.  Contrarily, the Burmese military regime exploit the people and the resources to build up their army with weapons and military equipments to repress ethnic people, political activists and civilians.

8.       In these facts, we demand to stop building the gas pipeline between Arakan State and Yunnan Province of Republic of China.

Contact Person:

Nyi Nyi Lwin,

Anti-Arakan-Yunnan Gas Peipleine Campaign (AUGPC);

Tel. (603) 2072-1305;

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it