Indoor air kills 2.2 million young Chinese

Via Lynn Hildemann and Sandy Robertson.

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Indoor air kills 2.2 million young Chinese: report

BEIJING (AFP) – More than two million Chinese youths die each year from health problems related to indoor air pollution, with nearly half of them under five years of age, state media cited a government study as saying.

The study released by the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said indoor pollution levels can often be 5-10 times higher than those measured in the nation's notoriously bad outdoor air, the China News Service said.

A baby wearing a mask is held at a hospital in Beijing. More than two million Chinese youths die each year

from health problems related to indoor air pollution, with nearly half of them under five years of age,

state media cited a government study as saying

This indoor pollution causes respiratory and other conditions that kill 2.2 million youths each year, one million of whom are under the age of five, the report said, citing the study released on Sunday.

AFP was not immediately able to obtain a copy of the study.
The study said dangerous indoor pollutants include formaldehyde, benzene, ammonia and radon.

It said formaldehyde posed the biggest threat. It is often found in building materials and new furniture in China and can be slowly released into indoor environments over the course of several years.

It said long-term exposure to such substances can cause a range of health problems including respiratory diseases, mental impairment and cancer, with young children, foetuses in utero and the elderly at most risk.
China's massive economic expansion of the past three decades has made it one of the world's most polluted countries as environmental and health concerns are trampled amid an overriding focus on industrial growth.

Countless cities are smothered in smog while hundreds of millions of citizens lack access to clean drinking water.

A 2007 World Bank report said 750,000 Chinese die prematurely each year due to air and water pollution -- a figure edited out of final versions of the report, reportedly after China warned it could cause social unrest.

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100517/ts_afp/healthchinapollution

Chinese Dams in this issue of "Science"

Science 12 March 2010: Vol. 327. no. 5971, p. 1311 DOI: 10.1126/science.327.5971.1311

NEWS OF THE WEEK

ECOLOGY:

Severe Drought Puts Spotlight on Chinese Dams

Richard Stone

XISHUANGBANNA, CHINA—Smoky haze hangs over the hills in this subtropical corner of China bordering Laos and Myanmar. The smoke is familiar: During the dry season, farmers across Yunnan Province burn fallen leaves, banana fronds, and more to make ash-based fertilizer. More unusual here, and more troubling, are the sickly yellow bamboo stands and the exposed bed of the Lancang River. "It's the worst drought in that region since 1949," the founding of the People's Republic of China, says Lu Juan, vice director of the Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research in Beijing.

Southwest China's monsoon-driven climate doesn't bring much precipitation in autumn and winter. But this year's dry season—coupled with a late start and early end to last year's rainy season—has left the region parched. Yunnan officials estimate that some 6 million people are short of drinking water and that the dry spell has ravaged winter wheat and other crops, inflicting $1.5 billion in losses.

The drought's effects have spilled across China's borders, stoking tensions with neighbors and prompting scientific debate. Rice yields in Thailand are expected to take a big hit, and the Mekong River—the name for the Lancang south of China—is in many stretches less than a meter deep, its lowest level in decades, making it impassable to tour boats and cargo ships. Researchers worry about how the low water level may affect fisheries and critically endangered species such as the Mekong giant catfish, which in the coming weeks would normally spawn in the upper Mekong.

Environmental groups in Thailand and elsewhere lay at least part of the blame on China's doorstep. They claim that China's management of a series of dams on the Lancang has aggravated the unfolding crisis. The Thai media has helped stir up emotions; one editorial in the Bangkok Post last month was headlined "China's dams killing Mekong." Yet Chinese engineers and some other scientists say the criticism is unfounded.

Rising tensions in Asia could usher in a protracted regional conflict over resources, especially as many key rivers cross several borders. In Asia, "competition for transboundary water utilization will be fierce," says He Daming, director of the Asian International River Centre of Yunnan University in Kunming. China will be at the center of many squabbles. With some 110 rivers and lakes straddling its borders with 19 countries, says He, "China is the most important upstream riparian country in Asia, even in the world."

A major feature in this vast waterworks is the 800,000-square-kilometer Lancang-Mekong basin, home to some 60 million people. From glacier-fed headwaters on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, the Lancang wends 2160 kilometers through southwestern China before entering the Golden Triangle region of Burma, Laos, and Thailand. The river finally spills into the South China Sea off Cambodia. In the late 1980s, China began work on eight cascades, or hydroelectric dams, on the Lancang's lower reaches, aiming to supply 15.6 gigawatts a year. Four have been completed, including Xiaowan, the tallest at 292 meters.

Some environmental groups contend that the Mekong flow regime has been altered by dredging and dam construction, suppressing fish catches. Living River Siam, a nonprofit based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has called on governments to "immediately stop all works on hydropower and river development on the Lancang-Mekong."

Yet the dams on the lower Lancang reduce runoff only during the rainy season, when reservoirs are filling, according to Chen Guanfu of Hydrochina Corp. Dry season water releases should increase river volume by 35%. "There are a lot of accusations that the dams in China are exacerbating the current low water levels, but the Chinese have informed [downstream nations] that they will not fill any reservoir during the dry season," says Roger Mollot, a fisheries expert with the World Wide Fund for Nature in Vientiane, Laos. The dams would also help rein in flooding, says Zhou Shichun of the General Institute of Hydropower and Water Resource Planning and Design in Beijing.

The biggest ecological impact could be less sediment swept downstream as silt accumulates in the reservoirs. But that would be a good thing, Zhou insists: It would "facilitate irrigation and navigation" on the Mekong. Others, however, point out that decreased sediment loads will likely lead to erosion of downstream riverbanks and the Mekong Delta.

Hydropower authorities have taken ecological effects into consideration, Zhou says. Work on one dam—the Mengsong Cascade, which would be sited nearest the border—has been postponed indefinitely, he says, to protect four species of migratory fish, including the giant pangasius (Pangasius sanitwongsei), whose conservation status is uncertain (Science, 22 June 2007, p. 1684). The freshwater goliath has not been reported above the Mengsong dam site, so the other dams would not affect it, Zhou says.

The first victim of an ecological crisis could be the Mekong giant catfish, which has been on the ropes for years. "It isnot clear if the current drought conditions will impact successful spawning of the wild population of giant catfish, but low water levels may make them more vulnerable to fishing pressure," says Mollot.

Things may get worse due to climate change. After examining weather and tree ring data, Fan Ze-xin, a tree physiologist at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, has found that in the past 40 years Yunnan has grown warmer and drier—a trend that started long before the dams were built. In a nature reserve near the botanical garden, he grabs leaves from a seedling; dry as parchment, they disintegrate. "Some of these leaves are fresh," Fan says. "I haven't seen it as bad as this."

China + Brazil = Oil!

Just a random doc that may pique some people's interest.
More international cooperation beyond Shell & PetroChina.



Cooperation Agreement with China

 

 

 

Rio de Janeiro, April 15th, 2010 – Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras announces that today it signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement with China Petrochemical Cooperation (SINOPEC) and China Development Bank Corporation (CDB) aimed at assessing mutually beneficial opportunities on the areas of cooperation. The Agreement is a development of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Petrobras and SINOPEC on May 19th, 2009.

 

The Agreement includes the cooperation between Petrobras and Sinopec in the following areas: Exploration & Production (E&P); Downstream; Petrochemical and fertilizers; and Services and Procurement.

 

In the E&P area there stands out the intention of the parties to assess future partnerships, including the possibility of selling part of Petrobras’s interest in blocks BM-PAMA-3 and BM-PAMA-8, located in the Pará-Maranhão Basin.

 

In Downstream and Petrochemical, the parties intent to assess opportunities for partnership in the Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro – Comperj, besides the possibility of new oil supply contracts to SINOPEC.

 

In addition, the Agreement includes the cooperation with CDB in relation to the possibility of bilateral financing under the scope of the Cooperation Agreement, to be negotiated between the parties by Petrobras demand.

 

Sincerely,

Investors Relations

China moves into S. America

Deal for South American Oil Fields Extends China’s Global Quest for Energy

By JAD MOUAWAD

Published: March 14, 2010

The New York Times

China’s top offshore oil explorer, said on Sunday that it had secured a South American beachhead by agreeing to pay $3.1 billion in cash for a stake in one of the largest Argentine oil explorers, with fields in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

Kin Cheung/Associated Press

Cnooc's chief executive, Fu Chengyu, said the company's deal with Bridas of Argentina was “to expand our global footprints.”

The acquisition is the Chinese oil industry’s latest move to expand its reach around the world. Starting at the beginning of the decade, companies like PetroChina, Sinopec and Cnooc began buying assets across Africa, Asia and the Middle East to drive the country’s booming economy. More recently, they have struck deals to develop Iraq’s huge reserves and Canada’s oil sands.

Cnooc, a unit of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, said it would form a joint venture with the Argentine oil explorer, Bridas Energy, by acquiring a 50 percent share in one of the company’s subsidiaries, the Bridas Corporation.

The Bridas unit has proven reserves of 636 million barrels of oil, and daily production of 92,000 barrels a day. It owns 40 percent of Pan American Energy, the Argentine oil producer, with BP owning the rest.

Chinese solar firm one of many taking US market

Chinese solar firm SunDurance Energy is capturing an increasing amount of US market share as it plans to move beyond California into New Jersey. Meanwhile market share of states, such as California, by Chinese firms, SunDurance included, is increasing as European subsidies for raw materials decline and as Chinese firms continue to control costs so tightly.

Read the NYTimes blog post here.

China editorials call for end to residency permit rules (Hukou System)

A BBC.co.uk piece of news on a call to end the Hukou system in China (we discussed this during the urbanization presentation). Call comes on the eve of annual meeting of Chinese legislators ...

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By Shirong Chen
BBC China editor

Living conditions are hard for migrants, this woman lives in a toilet

More than a dozen Chinese newspapers have published a joint editorial calling for the abolition of the household registration or "hukou".

This system limits rural migrants' access to services in China's more prosperous cities.

The appeal, which has attracted widespread support from internet-users, comes on the eve of the annual meeting of Chinese legislators later this week.

The hukou was introduced in the 1950s as a tool of central economic planning.

Discrimination

The editorial uses strong language, beginning by saying "long has China suffered from the ills of the hukou system!" and "all men were created free to move".

The hukou system registers every Chinese citizen according to their household origins as either town dwellers or country peasants.

Nowadays it is widely seen as a source of discrimination in terms of access to services like healthcare and education.

Since economic reforms began 30 years ago, many Chinese migrant workers have left the land to contribute to the country's rapid growth and industrialisation.

But they remain registered as rural dwellers and are not entitled to the same welfare as their city counterparts.

This has created social inequality.

The editorial says the system is unconstitutional and urges the people's deputies gathering in Beijing to overhaul it completely.

As well as being fairer, it says this would benefit China's economy as it would free up more labour and create more domestic demand.

The Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, admitted on Saturday that the bulk of the country's industrial workforce was now made up of migrant workers from the countryside.

However, it could take years to completely separate the hukou system from welfare provision, and eventually abolish it in the world's most populous country.

As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms | Reuters

A link to a Reuters' press article answering some questions concerning China's rare metals resources and world demand for electric vehicles batteries and wind turbines.

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As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms | Reuters

Inconvenient Carbon Truths About China

Inconvenient Carbon Truths About China from GreenTechGrid

Quotes that summarize the article:

"If [China's] growth rate continues, in ten years China will be emitting four times the carbon of the U.S., meaning that the U.S. becomes an insignificant producer of carbon whether we go green or not."

"If you are seriously worried about global warming, the solution is in technology adopted by India and China. If you can't come up with cheap green, then the alternative is prayer."

Speaking of growth (Foreign Policy)

A snapshot from Foreign Policy magazine of a "new" city in a more remote region of China. The situation described here doesn't apply everywhere -- there are real boomtowns with rapidly growing populations, even in the country's west. But the article does describe the model of government-driven investment and infrastructure building that are being pursued in many localities.

(P.S. We will be visiting Inner Mongolia on our trip.)
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China's High-Growth Ghost Towns
Visiting the eerily vacant epicenter of unsustainable progress, far out in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

BY APRIL RABKIN | FEBRUARY 17, 2010
Foreign Policy (FP.com)

In the gritty Inner Mongolian wind, I stood at the pinnacle of the global economy, at least in terms of GDP growth: the main drag of one of the fastest growing cities in the fastest-growing region in all of China, the world's supposed new economic powerhouse.

Built in a breakneck five years, Kangbashi is a state-of-the-art city full of architectural marvels and sculpture gardens. There's just one thing missing: people. The city, built by the government and funded with coal money, its chief industries energy and carmaking, has been mostly vacant for as long as it has been complete, except for the massive municipal headquarters. It's a grand canyon of empty monoliths. In a paradox only possible in today's economic system, Kangbashi manages to be both a boom town and a ghost town at the same time.

Kangbashi represents a particularly destructive economic force at work in China today: an obsession with GDP that ignores all other metrics of progress or human capital. GDP as calculated in China -- or the rest of the world, for that matter -- doesn't make any distinction between quantity and quality, or between creative and destructive expenditures.

Due to the industrial pollution billowing out of the country's GDP-enhancing factories and mines, cancer is the leading cause of death in China. A recent government survey showed that 30 percent of children in Yunnan province suffer from lead poisoning. Perhaps the biggest and most destructive GDP boost came from construction of the Three Gorges Dam, for which 1.24 million people were evicted. Even some of the newly rich, however, shower in tainted brown tap water.

Asian pollution delays inevitable warming

... some irony here ...

Asian pollution delays inevitable warming
Dirty power plants exert temporary protective effect.

By Jeff Tollefson
Published online 17 February 2010 | Nature 463, 860-861 (2010)

The grey, sulphur-laden skies overlying parts of Asia have a bright side — they reflect sunlight back into space, moderating temperatures on the ground. Scientists are now exploring how and where pollution from power plants could offset, for a time, the greenhouse warmingThe grey, sulphur-laden skies overlying parts of Asia have a bright side — they reflect sunlight back into space, moderating temperatures on the ground. Scientists are now exploring how and where pollution from power plants could offset, for a time, the greenhouse warming of the carbon dioxide they emit.

A new modelling study doubles as a thought experiment in how pollution controls and global warming could interact in China and India, which are projected to account for 80% of new coal-fired power in the coming years. If new power plants were to operate without controlling pollution such as sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX), the study finds, the resulting haze would reflect enough sunlight to overpower the warming effect of CO2 and exert local cooling.

But this effect would not be felt uniformly across the globe and would last only a few decades. In the long run, CO2 would always prevail, and the world could experience a rapid warming effect if the skies were cleaned up decades down the road.

...

How quickly China and India will move to clean up their coal emissions is unclear. In the past few years China has been aggressively installing SO2 scrubbers on many of its power plants in an attempt to improve air quality and protect public health. But some experts have questioned whether those scrubbers are being used properly — or even turned on.

Full article here: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100217/full/463860b.html

[China's Urbanization] McKinsey Report - China's Urban Billion

In preparation for the China Urbanization presentation, we invite you to have a look at a video summarizing a 2008 McKinsey report. The report mainly looks at future projections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoOiPzg0Yzg

We will also be discussing historical patterns, main drivers and impacts of urbanization, and will show a case study of a city we will visit during the trip.

China, the United States, and the Climate Change Challenge | World Resources Institute

A report discussing successes and challenges to effective regulation in China. Talks about U.S. competitiveness concerns in relation to the cap and trade mechanism, and opportunities for climate change cooperation between China and the U.S.

Has some important charts that we've looked at throughout classes and additional interesting information.


China, the United States, and the Climate Change Challenge | World Resources Institute

Posted using ShareThis

China draws up plans for national renewable energy center

Happy Year of the Tiger, everyone! 新年快樂，萬事如意！

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Plans are afoot for a "national renewable energy center" in China...

China draws up plans for national renewable energy center from China Daily.

Also, coverage by Reuters and UPI as well.

By Wan Zhihong and Sun Xiaohua (China Daily)
2010-02-10

China plans to build a national renewable energy center to further support development of the industry, an energy official said yesterday. The center will be responsible for policy-making, key project and program management, market and industrial operations, database and information platform establishment and international exchange program coordination, Han Wenke, director general of Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, said yesterday.

The establishment of the center is still in the preliminary planning stages, Han said at the launch of the Sino-Danish Renewable Energy Development Program. The Danish government will invest 100 million Danish krone (130 million yuan) in the program, which is slated to last until 2013.

The combination of Denmark's sector experience and China's strong economic position offer a good starting point for the program. "The project is set to combine the advantages of the two countries and promote renewable energy development fast and well in China," said Danish Minister of Climate Change and Energy Lykke Friis.

Some Danish companies have already made large financial commitments to China. Vestas, a world leader in wind power equipment manufacturing said last year its investment in China would exceed 3 billion yuan by the end of 2009. The company's rapid growth in the country is in line with the strong growth of China's wind energy sector, according to the company.

China made great progress in renewable energy growth last year. It accounted for 7.5 percent of the country's primary energy consumption in 2009 - or the equivalent of 230 million tons of coal, said Liu Qi, vice-director of the National Energy Administration.

"No matter what happens with international climate change negotiations, reducing fossil fuel consumption and developing renewable energy will be the best way to ensure a secure energy supply," said Liu. "The target of reducing carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent in 2020, based on 2005 emissions, will depend more on the development of renewable energy."

China has become the third largest producer of wind power in the world and is responsible for around 40 percent of the output of the world's solar photovoltaics. Photovoltaics or PVs are arrays of cells containing a solar photovoltaic material that converts solar radiation into electricity.

Renewable energy is helping China complete its economic transformation and achieve energy security, said analysts.

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It's unclear from the article what "build" means -- to establish/create, to construct a physical facility for, perhaps both ... As People's Daily notes, the official "made these remarks at the launch of a Sino-Danish Renewable Energy Development Program Tuesday, without providing further detail."

These articles also illustrate two other key features of reporting/media on China.

1) There is a problem with statistics not always agreeing. One must find out what the statistics actually refer to...

Reuters: "Renewable energy consumption accounted for 8.3 percent of the China's total in 2009. The country consumed a total of 3 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent in the year, more than 90 percent of which was derived from traditional fossil fuels, with more than 70 percent from coal."

China wants renewable energy sources to make up 15 percent of total power generation by 2020, up from about 9 percent currently. It also aims to reduce carbon intensity, or the amount of carbon produced per unit of GDP, by between 40 and 45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005.

UPI, pulling directly from China Daily: Renewable energy accounted for 7.5 percent of the country's primary energy consumption in 2009, or the equivalent of 230 million tons of coal, said Liu Qi, vice director of the National Energy Administration, China Daily reports.

"No matter what happens with international climate change negotiations, reducing fossil fuel consumption and developing renewable energy will be the best way to ensure a secure energy supply," said Liu. "The target of reducing carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent in 2020, based on 2005 emissions, will depend more on the development of renewable energy."

2) A lot of the Western wire services depend on China Daily, Xinhua and other English-language Chinese media for their stories. You'll often see articles pop up a day or two later, citing China Daily or Xinhua as its source. The good thing is that the reporting by good wire services like Reuters, AP or Agence France-Presse is clearer, and may even give additional details or explanation -- especially if it's a complex issue where Western audiences may appreciate a little context or background. Still articles can often be here's what China Daily said, written more cleanly, succinctly (and grammatically). This makes sense, as they don't have large news bureaus and a stock of reporters out in the field; they're trying to keep readers abreast of the news in China, and a lot of that (though of course not all of it) is funneled through state media.

In any case, sometimes it helps to "check backward" and see what the original story may have said. Even if it doesn't provide all the details, the way in which things are phrased in state media can be interesting to observe.

URLs:
Tiger graphic http://www.nipic.com/show/3/9/45c55e3d0e5a5217.html
China Daily http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-02/10/content_9456628.htm
Reuters http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6190IA20100210
UPI http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/02/10/China-plans-renewable-energy-center/UPI-19451265834630/
People's Daily http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90862/6892537.html

From Worldwatch: Vital Signs Online: Auto Industry in Turmoil, but Chinese Production Surges

Vital Signs Online: Auto Industry in Turmoil, but Chinese Production Surges

The year 2009 was one of deep crisis for large parts of the world’s automobile industry, with production and sales that plunged in many countries, factory closings, job loss, and a reshuffling of the leading producers. Production of passenger cars and light trucks declined 13 percent, and sales dropped 6 percent, from 66.2 million light vehicles in 2008 (and the previous peak of 69.4 million in 2007) to 62.4 million in 2009.

Read: Auto Industry in Turmoil, but Chinese Production Surges by Michael Renner

Note - you will need to create an account to read the full report (free)

New Chinese Pollution Census Data Released - NY Times

Very glad that there's a more comprehensive survey of pollution out there. Unfortunately, it shows a lot more work is needed -- and that past statistics (especially on water pollution) could be problematic.

P.S. At the end of January, Ministry of Environmental Protection announced that two new pollution indicators, NOx ("discharged from vehicles and power plants and causes acid rain") and ammonia nitrogen ("another major measure of water quality") were introduced into the emission control list for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

Currently, the pollutants they are focusing on are SO2 for air, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) for water. China is apparently on track to meet its target of reducing 10% of emissions below 2005 levels, by 2010. (Not including this new census data, which takes into account agricultural pollution).

China Report Shows More Pollution in Waterways
By JONATHAN ANSFIELD and KEITH BRADSHER
The New York Times / February 10, 2010

BEIJING — China’s government on Tuesday unveiled its most detailed survey ever of the pollution plaguing the country, revealing that water pollution in 2007 was more than twice as severe as official figures that had long omitted agricultural waste.

The first-ever national pollution census, environmentalists said, represented a small step forward for China in terms of transparency. But the results also raised serious questions about the shortcomings of China’s previous pollution data and suggested that even with limited progress in some areas, the country still had a long way to go to clean its waterways and air.

The pollution census, scheduled to be repeated in 2020, took more than two years to complete. It involved 570,000 people, and included 1.1 billion pieces of data from nearly 6 million sources of pollution, including factories, farms, homes and pollution-treatment facilities, the government announced at a news conference.

But the comprehensiveness of the survey also resulted in stark discrepancies between some of the calculations and annual figures that the government has published in the past. By far the biggest of these involved China’s total discharge of chemical oxygen demand — the main gauge of water pollution. These discharges totaled 30.3 million tons in 2007, the census showed.

In recent years the Ministry of Environmental Protection has done a much narrower calculation of these discharges, excluding agricultural effluents like fertilizers and pesticides as well as fluids leaking from landfills. By that narrower measure, discharges came to only 13.8 million tons in 2007, which officials described at the time as a decline of more than 3 percent from 2006 and a “turning point.”

China takes risky step with Myanmar pipelines (Reuters)

Click for full-size image.An article from Reuters on the new natural gas and oil pipelines routed to China via Burma/Myanmar. Summary of the article's main points (with some extra tidbits):

• Pipeline projects in Burma/Myanmar may help China tackle the "Malacca Strait dilemma," an issue of national/energy security
• Pipelines may be easy target to sabotage for rebel groups fighting the military junta
• Despite China being its largest weapons supplier, Myanmar government is deeply suspicious of Beijing
• China risks public relations disaster over human rights, as the government in Myanmar is truly repressive

To hit home the point made in class, why is China so interested in securing pipelines?

"The fear is that during a conflict, a hostile power could choke off energy supplies that are taken on supertankers through the narrow Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia. Some 80 percent of China's oil imports arrive this way. [This is known in domestic energy strategy circles as the "Malacca Strait dilemma."] Bringing energy supplies through Myanmar is a handy way to avoid the Strait, and expands efforts to diversify supply routes with crude and gas pipelines from Central Asia."

(Click for full-size map)

China takes risky step with Myanmar pipelines
Reuters / 03 Feb 2010
By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING, Feb 3 (Reuters) - China will soon be burning oil and gas piped in through Myanmar, but putting some of its energy security in the hands of a pariah state beset by international sanctions and civil strife could be a risky gamble.

A gas pipeline with annual capacity of 12 billion cubic meters is due to come on-stream within the next two years, carrying the fuel from military-ruled Myanmar's rich offshore deposits into southwestern China.

If all goes to plan, China at some point in the near future will start also receiving 12 million tons of oil a year via a separate pipeline, about as much as it imported from Sudan last year, its fifth-largest supplier. There is no exact date for its opening yet.

Myanmar [once known as a Burma] is a friend of China, which has stood by the country's ruling generals, selling arms and providing diplomatic cover when needed -- with an eye firmly on Myanmar's natural resources and access to the Indian Ocean.

But the relationship is more a practical partnership than a meeting of minds, despite the parallels between the two authoritarian governments. Myanmar's military harbors a profound mistrust of its powerful northern neighbor, while China worries instability in Myanmar could spill over into its territory. Those fears came to the fore last August when fighting between Myanmar's military and the Kokang rebel group pushed thousands of refugees into China. Myanmar's army ended up firing across the border, provoking irritation in Beijing.

"If Beijing thinks that the pipeline in Burma is going to be relatively trouble-free then they ought to rethink," said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar expert at the London School of Economics (LSE) Centre for the Study of Global Governance. "Even a regime that is currently in a marriage of convenience with them would fire into Chinese territory," he added.

MALACCA STRAIT PROBLEM

China, the world's second-largest oil user, sees the pipelines as a way to get around what in domestic energy strategy circles is known as the "Malacca Strait dilemma".

The fear is that during a conflict, a hostile power could choke off energy supplies that are taken on supertankers through the narrow Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia. Some 80 percent of China's oil imports arrive this way.

The area already has a piracy problem. In 2005, the Joint War Committee of the Lloyd's Market Association added the area to its list of war risk zones.

Bringing energy supplies through Myanmar is a handy way to avoid the Strait, and expands efforts to diversify supply routes with crude and gas pipelines from Central Asia.

"One of the pipelines will be purely for oil, and that oil isn't coming from Burma. It will be offloaded from tankers coming from the Middle East and then piped to Yunnan and on. It's very important," said Ian Storey, a fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. "One way of looking at the Kokang incident is the Burmese were actually just clearing the border in preparation for that pipeline. So China couldn't be too critical of that incident because it's in their own interests."

But the benefits may be more than offset by two major risks -- the many disparate rebel groups who have fought Myanmar's central government for decades, and popular mistrust at an influx of Chinese migrants and traders into Myanmar.

"Think of a population that is seething with resentment towards the Chinese that borders on hatred," said LSE's Maung Zarni. "An 800-km pipeline is too good a target if the Burmese want to harm Chinese interests."

Already, residents along the pipelines' route have attacked Chinese workers and offices, angry at the seizure of their land and property, said Wong Aung, a spokesman for the Shwe Gas Movement, which is campaigning against the project. "We can only imagine people's anger at the Chinese," he said by telephone from Thailand. "That kind of social unrest, or attacks, could take place at any time."

Factor in India's jockeying for influence in Myanmar, driven by Delhi's fears that China is surrounding it with pro-Beijing states, and the potential for problems rises further. "If at any time India feels they have lost Burma to China, you can easily imagine a scenario where India quietly assists disgruntled military units or dissident groups which may become radicalized to target Chinese assets," Maung Zarni said.

But Myanmar is keeping India in the game by offering stakes in the pipeline to two Indian gas companies. State-run Gail India will pick up a 4 percent stake and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will take another 8-8.5 percent, Indian media reported last month.

PUBLIC RELATIONS DISASTER

The project could become another international public relations disaster for China, coming hot on the heels of the opprobrium Beijing attracted ahead of the 2008 Olympics for its oil investments in Sudan.

Rights groups have repeatedly expressed concern that pipeline construction will bring abuses against local peoples, mainly by Myanmar's army which will be tasked with protecting the project.

Yet desire for the oil and gas is such that the risk of another unhappy round of poor global public relations for China is one Beijing will be happy to take, said David Mathieson, Myanmar researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"Potentially that pipeline project could really become a touchstone for all the other things China does in Burma, and it could be immensely embarrassing to them," he said. "(But) I actually don't think that's enough to stop the project. They've wanted that gas for a very long time."

URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/TOE60D08W.htm

Three Gorges and the Freedom of Information Act?

"The Three Gorges dam on China’s Yangtze is the world’s largest and most expensive dam, though the final cost is unknown because of state secrecy. Estimates of its cost vary between $32 billion and $88 billion."


Interesting use of new legal mechanisms by an ordinary citizen to gain more information on Three Gorges. We'll see how this turns out.

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Rule of law meets the Three Gorges dam

Patricia Adams
Probe International / January 27, 2010

Ren Xinghui, a Beijing resident, has made headlines in the Chinese Internet press by using the country’s new disclosure law to request information about government funding of the Three Gorges dam.

Last October, Mr. Ren filed formal requests for bonds, loans, special electricity charges, among other sources of financing, from three key government departments in charge of the dam: the Ministry of Finance, the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee Executive Office under the State Council and the China Three Gorges Corporation.

The Three Gorges dam on China’s Yangtze is the world’s largest and most expensive dam, though the final cost is unknown because of state secrecy. Estimates of its cost vary between $32 billion and $88 billion. Corruption has plagued the project’s resettlement operation, which has flooded nearly 1.2 million people from their homes.

According to the law, Mr. Ren’s request for data on the dam’s cost is entirely by the book: Article one of the regulation, which came into force on May 1, 2008, states that its purpose is to safeguard “the legal access to government information by citizens, legal persons and other organizations, improving the transparency of government work, promoting the administration according to law and giving full play to the role of government information of serving the people’s production, living and social and economic activities.”

Mr. Ren's attempt to use the law to secure government spending records is pioneering. Government officials who fielded his initial requests last October seemed caught off guard, denied knowledge of such things, couldn’t find responsible officials (they were away on a business trip or occupied in meetings), cited internal procedures for prohibiting the submission of the requests and directed Mr. Ren to the Propaganda Office.

Now, having considered his initial request, the Ministry of Finance has rejected it on the grounds that the income and expenditure of the dam project was made available in 2008 and that Mr. Ren’s own production, domestic or research affairs are not affected by the expenditures, so he has no right to the data.

Mr. Ren disputes this and argues that he, like all Chinese electricity consumers, has been forced to contribute to the Three Gorges Construction Fund through a special charge in their electricity rates. On that basis, he says, he is entitled to see the financing and cost data.

On Monday, Ren Xinghui filed his suit against the Ministry of Finance with Beijing’s No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, asking it to decree that the Ministry of Finance provide the data on the cost of the Three Gorges to him. The Court is now reviewing whether to accept the case.

URL: http://www.probeinternational.org/three-gorges-probe/rule-law-meets-three-gorges-dam

Pedal Power! E-bikes in China.

Nifty article in The New York Times on electric bikes:

An Electric Boost for Bicyclists
By J. David Goodman (Jan 31, 2010)

"Detroit may be introducing electric car designs and China may be pushing forward with a big expansion of its highways and trains." But millions more are "taking part in a more accidental transportation upheaval."

In China, "an estimated 120 million electric bicycles now hum along the roads, up from a few thousand in the 1990s. They are replacing traditional bikes and motorcycles at a rapid clip and, in many cases, allowing people to put off the switch to cars.  In turn, the booming Chinese electric-bike industry is spurring worldwide interest and impressive sales in India, Europe and the United States. China is exporting many bikes, and Western manufacturers are also copying the Chinese trend to produce models of their own. From virtually nothing a decade ago, electric bikes have become an $11 billion global industry."

Electric bicycle riders in China, where about 120 million such bikes are used, with some going up to 30 miles an hour.

More perspective on e-bikes from other publications:

E-Yikes! Electric Bikes Terrorize the Streets of China (WSJ)
“Electric bicycles, or e-bikes, have taken off in China. But some people say they are dangerous, and may not be so green after all." (Jan 17, 2010)

China’s E-Bikes: Less-Than-Perfect Pioneers (WSJ)
Blog entry from WSJ's Shai Oster. With video! (Jan 19, 2010)

Putting the brakes on pedal power (Washington Post)
Bicycles give way to automobiles, but e-bikes keep two-wheel tradition alive. (Dec 14, 2009)

As a bonus, here is an academic paper I came across last quarter doing research for a different class. (Published in Energy Policy:)

The future of electric two-wheelers and electric vehicles in China
J. Weinert, J. Ogden, D. Sperling and A. Burke (2008)



URLs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/business/global/01ebike.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703657604575005140241751852.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/01/19/china%E2%80%99s-e-bikes-less-than-perfect-pioneers/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/14/AR2009121403411.html
http://pubs.its.ucdavis.edu/download_pdf.php?id=1168

China Sees Oil at $80 a Barrel (WSJ)

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, NDRC, China's macroeconomic planning body, predicts that international oil prices "will average $80 a barrel this year—about 25% higher than last year—reinforcing analysts' expectations that Chinese demand will continue to help push prices up despite concerns that recent credit-tightening moves could crimp its appetite for fuel." Full story here.

Notable quotes:

• International Energy Agency forecasts China's oil demand for the year will average 8.82 million barrels a day, an increase of 4.3% from last year's 8.46 million barrels a day. Chinese oil demand surged 7.2% higher from 2008 as the government's giant stimulus package revived construction and car sales.
  

• Figuring out China's situation is difficult because of a lack of transparency. There is no reliable data available on how much oil is going into government or company inventory stockpiles.

• Typically, Chinese demand surges ahead of major holidays, such as the Chinese Lunar New Year that starts in mid-February this year, when tourism spikes, or when Chinese buyers think the government is about to raise prices. Then, in following months, demand may fall as the stockpiles are used up before companies go back to buying again.
  

• In past months, analysts pointed out a strange trend that gasoline demand wasn't growing nearly as fast as other oil products. That could be partly explained by Chinese buying cars with smaller engines and using them less.

• China's rising demand for crude also reflects new oil refineries starting up. Much of their product is exported, where it can be sold for a higher price than in the domestic market. For the first time in more than a decade, China was a net fuel exporter, according to energy analyst Paul Ting.

URL: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704194504575030961181643310.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

China White Papers

White Papers issued by the government on a variety of topics, ranging from rule of law, national defense, gender equality, and yes, energy.

http://www.china.org.cn/e-white/index.htm