Subject: [cwj 38] Tell BP Amoco to Stop Funding Destruction of Tibet!
From: Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 12:49:35 -0700
Seq: 38
Send a FREE Fax Today! Tell BP Amoco to Stop Funding Destruction of Tibet! http://www.corpwatch.org/action/2000/13.html Sponsored by: Corporate Watch and International Campaign for Tibet Posted: June 9, 2000 BACKGROUND The Tibet Pipeline Drilling into the Land of Snows For the first time, western corporations are involved in a major resource extraction project in Tibet. BP Amoco, Enron, and Agip (Italy) are all assisting PetroChina in the construction of the Sebei-Lanzhou gas pipeline -The Tibet Pipeline. The 953 km pipeline represents a significant escalation of China's ongoing strategy of developing Tibet into a resource extraction colony, and would remove petroleum from Tibet without any benefit for Tibetans. Begun in March, and scheduled to be completed in October 2001, this project could implicate western corporations in ongoing human rights violations in Tibet. The Tsaidam basin, located on the Northern Tibetan plateau, is rich in oil and gas reserves. Development of this basin into a major petroleum (oil & gas) producing region is one of the major economic interests behind China's continued occupation of Tibet, and one of the major strategic priorities for the development of China's petroleum industry. Constructing this pipeline paves the way for full-scale petroleum development in Tibet. The pipeline, and the increased drilling, will pose serious threats to Tibet's fragile environment, which is the headwaters for virtually all of Southeast Asia's great rivers. Tibetans will almost certainly watch Chinese control over the region further tighten, as more military will be brought in to protect the project. For this, Tibetans can expect to see little if anything in return, like many other communities around the world where oil and gas are found. In April of this year BP Amoco bailed out PetroChina from a near disastrous initial showing on the New York Stock Exchange, and invested $580 million in the Chinese oil company. This cash infusion makes BP Amoco the largest foreign investor in PetroChina, and covers the estimated $530 million needed to construct the Tibet pipeline. BP Amoco did elect not to participate in the pipeline joint venture, but their money still fuels the project. Demand that BP Amoco immediately withdraw their investment in PetroChina, and stop funding China's exploitation of Tibet! http://www.corpwatch.org/action/2000/13.html For more background: International Campaign for Tibet < http://www.savetibet.org/ > Climate Justice Index < http://www.corpwatch.org/ climate/ > ------------------------------------- Corporate Watch in Japanese Transnational Resource and Action Center (TRAC) P.O. Box 29344 San Francisco, CA 94129 USA Tel: 1-415-561-6472 Fax: 1-415-561-6493 Email: cwj@corpwatch.org URL: http://www.corpwatch-jp.org ------------------------------------- ______________________ The Corporate Watch in Japanese http://www.corpwatch.org/japan (CWJ) mailing list is a moderated email list in English designed to connect activists campaigning against Japanese corporations and investments around the world. * To unsubscribe from the CWJ mailing list, send an email to majordomo@jca.apc.org with text "unsubscribe cwj". To subscribe to the CWJ mailing list, send a message to majordomo@jca.apc.org with the text "subscribe cwj" * The CWJ mailing list is NOT intended for wide distribution. If you would like to post messages from this list somewhere else, we ask that you first contact us at cwj@corpwatch.org ______________________