Weekly Business Roundup (October 31, 2009)

Rights Groups Petition China to Give Up Burma Oil, Gas Pipelines

The Chinese government has come under a barrage of petitions asking it to abandon plans to build gas and oil pipelines through Burma.

The pipelines will connect the Burmese coast with China’s Yunnan Province.

Scores of human rights groups presented the petitions this week to Chinese embassies across Southeast Asia, Australia and several countries in Europe, including Britain.

The petitions argue that the pipelines will lead to land confiscation and other abuses such as forced labor and Burmese army violence.

The petitions campaign was coordinated by the Shwe Gas Movement.

China is to spend more than US $2 billion building the 1,000-km-plus pipelines, and work is scheduled to begin before the end of this year.

One pipe will pump gas from the Shwe field in Burmese waters of the Bay of Bengal. The other will carry crude oil from the Middle East and Africa, transshipped at a specially constructed port on Ramree Island.

The petitions were accepted by most embassies this week but there has been no response from Beijing.

Qantas Says ‘Experts’ Advised it to Keep Jetstar Flying to Rangoon

The boss of Australia’s major airline Qantas says his company is following advice from experts in keeping subsidiary Jetstar flying between Singapore and Rangoon.

Qantas has as 49 percent share of Singapore Jetstar Asia, which has been the subject of a campaign by human rights groups to stop providing services that allegedly benefit the military regime.

But Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told Radio Australia that Jetstar makes no cash payments to the Burmese government.

“It’s our belief that constructive engagement is the right way to go,” Joyce said. “That’s the advice we’re getting. We’re listening to a lot of experts.”

The Singapore government-owned investment company Temasek Holdings earlier this year sold its stake in Jetstar, and so the only other shareholder in the budget carrier is Singapore-based Westbrook Investments, owned by Singapore businessman Dennis Choo Teck Wong.

Third Gems Auction of 2009 in Rangoon Lures Chinese, Thais

Rangoon is hosting its third government-controlled gems auction this year.

The latest auction is running for two weeks until Nov. 6 and is reportedly attracting hundreds of potential buyers from China, Thailand and India.

The ruling junta has increased the frequency of the gems sales, up from a single annual event to a three-times-a-year routine.

Auctions were held in March and June and according to the state-controlled Myanmar Gem Enterprise earned $191 million and $292 million, respectively.

The state Central Statistical Organization claims that Burma produced 32,921 tons of jade and 18,728 million carats of rubies, sapphires and other precious stones in the 2008-2009 financial year.

A United States Congress agency admitted a few weeks ago that American sanctions legislation created in 2008 has largely failed to prevent the import into the US of Burmese gems.

A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Washington government agencies had failed to persuade other countries and the United Nations to join to help halt the Burmese junta-linked gems trade.

 “Strong support and the cooperation of China and Thailand are important to restrict trade in these items, but highly unlikely,” said the GAO report.
 
Is Anybody There? Mobile Phone Ban in Naypyidaw Lifted

Privileged residents of Burma’s isolated new capital are to be permitted to use mobile phones.

Until now, private telephones—both mobile and fixed line—have been barred to citizens on the bizarre grounds of national security.

Naypyidaw, founded in 2005, is believed to be the only capital city in the world where such a restriction existed.

Only public phones have been available for Naypyidaw residents other than the military for the past four years.

The French news agency AFP, quoting a hotel executive in the city, said the mobile phone ban was lifted in mid-October.

However, it is unlikely to make much difference for most Burmese.

Just over one percent of the entire population of 48 million has access to a mobile phone, according to the magazine Mobile World this week.