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Sun, Apr 6, 1997
Vying For Gas & Oil In Central Asia
also: quakes strike Xinjiang; ultra-nationalism in Japan; stamping out pirated discs; and more . . .Please read the statement of purpose.
Letters: a few more words from the Editor on the Mail page.
The internet backbone to which my ISP is connected in Hawaii was out of order all day. Anything outside of Honolulu and the neighbor islands was inaccessible to me. As I prepare this issue, a message from the ISP has informed me of another bout of maintenance downtime in less than two hours. This issue will accordingly be abbreviated.
Letters: John from Peking Duck on the Mail page.
Xinjiang: two earthquakes struck Xinjiang Province today destroying thousands of homes and injuring fourteen people. The first quake struck at 7:46 am and measured 6.3 on the Richter scale and the second hit at 12:36, registering 6.4. The quakes were centered in the Kashi area of Xinjiang, in the extreme western part of the province.
Central Asia: we go outside the domain of mainland China to locate a nexus of friction, intrigue and conflict. This week's issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review examines what it calls "a new version of 19th-century's Great Game" in Central Asia. The appellation refers to the "games" played last century by agents of the British and Russian Empires to secure those areas for their governments. Now it's oil and gas companies, with the active assistance of their respective governments, who vie for control of some of the world's last large oil deposits.
Involved are the United States, Japan, China, European and Latin American countries, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, the various former Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Uzebekistan, Turkmenistan, as well as Afganistan. Afganistan is crucial to many of the plans. Through it pipelines must run, if petroleum and gas is to be delivered to paying customers. As the country lies torn apart by war and its warlords, oil companies are lining up to strike deals.
The article has much to say, but we may note a few points especially pertinent to China:
- As Turkmenistan's gas production returns to full potential after the chaotic years of independence from the Soviet empire, the Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, China National Petroleum Corp, and an affiliate of Exxon Corp are planning to build an 8,000-kilometre gas pipeline stretching from Turkmenistan to Japan, reports the Review.
- Billed as the "project of the century," it will cost US $22 billion and will "harness gas along the way from Kazakhstan, Uzebekistan and China's Tarim basin," reports the magazine.
- The first leg to the Chinese seaboard will cost US $12 billion, the Review quotes a Japanese diplomat. The remainder will be spent on extending the line under the Sea of Japan to "Japan's fuel-hungry industry". According to the diplomatic source, "Japan's gas needs will double by 2010, so we need the energy."
- The Review writes, "East Asia's need for energy is truly enormous. China alone will need to import 21 million tonnes of gas from abroad by 2010 if present economic growth rates are to be sustained."
We should watch closely how China and other nations pursue their energy policies. Readers are encouraged to read this article.
(Note: the Far Eastern Economic Review on-line service is free, but requires that users register with them and login, and therefore first-time users should first introduce themselves on the FEER registration page.)Japan: a Washington Post story on Japanese ultra-nationalists discusses an issue important to the overall piece of that nation and suggests why the government treads lightly making amends for Japan's actions during World War II. These nationalists strut around in military attire. They are armed and purposefully disruptive of an orderly society. They make real threats against politicians whom they believe to be selling Japan short in the international arena, and the Japanese government considers them serious threats to the society and national security. In the case of the group discussed in the Post article the government has assigned some 1000 police officers to full-time detail to monitor their activities.
They say, Japan has already made too many apologies for its actions during the second world war, and they take particular issue with the topics so sensitive to China and Korea: according to them, the figure of 300,000 people who died in the "Rape of Nanjing" is exaggerated, and the imperial army's mobile bordellos of "comfort women," many of whom were Korean, did not force these women to work; many chose to do so on their own.
What is particularly interesting is this statement made by a 65-year old member of a nationalistic group: "We think the greatest threat to Japan is a sense of declining morals." He said, reverence for the emperor would foster a moral society, reports the paper. He singled out the "liberal" teacher's union and the "incorrect history" taught to students, the paper writes.
It was these nationalistic, right-wing groups which occupied the Diaoyu islands last year, igniting pent-up "Chinese" nationalism on the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as among overseas Chinese around the world. It is an important article to read
Economy: Seth Faison, New York Times correspondent in China, has a story on the government's efforts to stamp out pirated compact discs. Faison writes, the government has turned to offering steep rewards---in one case he cites, US $36,000---to informants who report these pirates to the authorities.
An interesting point he makes is that although the US government may take some credit for the increased vigilance and policing of pirates by the Chinese, the real impetus for the current campaign against pirating has much more to do with domestic politics. Faison writes, President Jiang Zemin has expended a considerable amount of political capital in wrestling support from local officials, secret police and others who have vested interests in seeing the continuation of the pirating. Jiang has framed the issue as a campaign to "Sweep Away Pornography; Combat Illegal Copying," as the slogan for the campaign reads. In other words, the campaign and Jiang's support is part of his greater goal to build a "spiritual civilization" in China.
Faison also says that the government is beginning to realize that these pirates will hurt the country's domestic music industry, too.
Wed, Mar 5, 1997 issue for more information on Jiang Zemin.
(Note: the New York Times on-line edition is free, but requires that users register a name and password, and therefore first-time users should first introduce themselves on the Times registration page.)