Most Popular
- VietWill brochure, poster, T-shirts, logo, and banner
- [Poem] Vietnamese mountains and rivers by Ly Thuong Kiet
- Press Release 2: VietWill persists with plan for protest at S.F. torch relay
- 14 March 2008 Press Release
- VietWill Commentary: For Vietnamese, no harmony in torch journey
- Beijing's dirty moves
Latest Updates
- A Southward Thrust for China's Energy Diplomacy in the South China Sea
- China-Vietnam ties remain more sour than sweet
- Economic route key to Sino-Vietnamese peace
- Reality vs. rhetoric in Vietnam - China territorial dispute
- China, Vietnam pledge to settle disputed borders, boost trade
- China, Vietnam seek sea border resolution "this year" [REUTERS CORRECTION]
Recently Discussed
- China-Vietnam ties remain more sour than sweet
- Economic route key to Sino-Vietnamese peace
- Regarding the 1958 Letter by Pham Van Dong [Update]
- China, Vietnam seek sea border resolution "this year" [REUTERS CORRECTION]
- China Threatens neighbors in South China Sea
- China calls on cooperation with Vietnam over South China Sea
| China Tries To Make Exxon A Pawn |
|
|
|
|
Investor Business Daily 21 July 2008 Energy: Big Oil is easy to kick around — just ask any Democrat in Congress. But China's threats to Exxon Mobil are in another league. Its bid to use Exxon Mobil as a wedge against its rival Vietnam is a case in point. What China's doing in the South China Sea these days is not trade, but blackmail to assert regional dominance. On Sunday, the South China Morning Post reported Chinese officials are threatening to exclude Exxon Mobil from doing business in China if it doesn't pull out of an exploration deal with Vietnam's state oil company, PetroVietnam. The region in question is clearly Vietnam's (see map). Exxon Mobil has been doing its homework on this area ever since the U.S. trade embargo was lifted in 1994. But China claims Vietnam's central and southern offshore coastal waters, where the exploration is occurring, is its territory. Though its claim wouldn't hold up in an international court, China seems to believe Vietnam is a wayward stepchild and, thus, China doesn't need to recognize its sovereignty. Exxon Mobil, as a result, might have to drop the project, leaving Vietnam with no technology to extract its badly needed coastal oil. BP bailed out on a similar project a year ago after Chinese threats. The result? Less oil on the market and higher prices. This goes against China's reputation as a pragmatic, economically focused state, which is how conventional wisdom explains why China is scouring the Earth and sidling up to dodgy dictators to secure new oil resources. The Exxon Mobil threat calls into question China's membership in the World Trade Organization, which doesn't let members menace foreign firms for political purposes. It's not hard to see the outlines of what's going on. Vietnam and China have a festering dispute over who rules the Spratly Islands, a group of atolls 280 miles off Vietnam, halfway to the Philippines. The 200 islands are mostly rocky and small, and worthless except as fishing stations. But after oil was discovered in their surrounding waters in 1968, six nations made claims to them. Vietnam's case is strongest — on historic grounds, on the continental shelf principle and because it has carefully defined its territorial claim, according to Global Security, a private forecaster. China's claim, on the other hand, is broad, vague and overarching, with little legal basis. The islands aren't even close to its coast. The dispute has intensified since both countries shed elements of their communist regimes and moved toward authoritarian regimes with market economies. Both countries are growing fast and need oil. But because Vietnam's claim is the one that would hold up in court, China's new tactic signals it's willing to use bullying and threats to assert its muscle. It's threatening Vietnam's ability to develop its oil through a beggar-thy-neighbor strategy, using American oil companies as leverage. Earlier this month, China got hit hard by the WTO for its protectionist trade policies in auto parts. Now, again, it seems to be using its clout as the world's No. 1 exporter to flout the rules and norms. In 2001, when China was on the verge of joining the WTO with strong U.S. support, it vowed to observe global trade laws and to be a law-abiding, upstanding corporate citizen. So much for that idea. By kicking around Western oil companies and asserting its hegemony over Southeast Asia, China has become just another petrotyranny, like Venezuela or Russia. If China won't live up to its obligations as a good global citizen, then maybe its largest market, the U.S., can remind China that two can play at this game.
Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.23
3.23 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved." |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|