Attachment to 00-C 33
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC
March 31, 2000
The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
In the 1980’s, Americans protested South Africa’s odious apartheid policy. In that instance,
pension funds, mutual funds, and other institutional and private investors realized they had the
power to effect positive change in the policies and practices of the South African regime through
their purchasing and divestment decisions. Today, a massive stock offering that will fund oil and
development activities in Sudan, in violation of U.S. policy, is about to occur unless you take
action.
PetroChina is China’s most significant oil concern and is primarily owned jointly by the
People’s
Republic of China and its largest state-owned energy enterprise, China National Petroleum
Company (CNPC). CNPC is currently engaged, or preparing to engage, in oil exploration and
development activities in Sudan in violation of official U.S. policy.
In the coming weeks PetroChina hopes to bring a $5-7 billion Initial Public Offering to
market
on the New York Stock Exchange, ostensibly to raise funds for its domestic energy development
activities. A large percentage of the proceeds raised by this IPO will undoubtedly be secured
from America’s public and private investment funds. Given CNPC’s track record, it seems likely
that, in purchasing these securities, American investors will unwittingly be underwriting
activities that contravene official U.S. policy and its widely hold principles and values.
A brief review of the troubled history of this listing should immediately raise a red flag of
concern. CNPC initially sought to list on the NYSE but its proposed IPO met with legitimate
criticism on the basis that monies raised in this country would likely be diverted, at least in part,
to the Khartoum regime in Sudan. CNPC owns a 40% stake in Sudan’s Greater Nile Petroleum
Operating Company. The link between the revenues generated by CNPC and the Khartoum
regime’s ability to increase the intensity and lethality of its civil war is a matter of record.
Failing in its first attempt, CNPC last month established the subsidiary PetroChina in order
for it
to move forward with a listing on the NYSE. PetroChina claimed that this IPO’s $5-7 billion in
proceeds would be directed to oil and gas development in China. Assuming the veracity of this
disclosure, these efforts would pose a direct threat to the population, resources and fragile
environment of the Tibetan Plateau.
Last year, tho United States vigorously opposed a similarly located World Bank project
because
of its implications for the Tibetan people and their lands. That project raised serious concerns
with regard to the relocation of Chinese onto the Tibetan Plateau as well as how Tibetan
concerns could properly be integrated into the project. U.S. opposition to this Bank project was
broadly supported in Congress because it reflected American intolerance of China’s continuing
oppression and exploitation of the Tibetan people.
While we fully support the free flow of capital into and out of this country’s debt and equity
markets, we nevertheless believe that raising capital from the U.S. investor community to help
underwrite the ravaging of Tibet’s natural resources is no more acceptable than the prospect of
aiding the Sudanese government’s genocidal civil war. Accordingly, we request that you use
your authority to block any IPO brought to the U.S. capital makers by CNPC, and/or PetroChina,
until an acceptable use of the proceeds therefrom has been assured.
Sincerely,
Spencer Bachus
Dennis Kucinich
David Bonior
Frank Wolf
Jerrold Nadler
Charlie Norwood
J.D. Hayworth
James Rogan
Tom Tancredo
Sherrod Brown
Merril Cook
Neil Abercrombie
Pete Stark
Chris Smith
Cliff Stearns
Michael Forbes
Duncan Hunter
Marcy Kaptur
Nydia Velazquez
Tom Coburn
Tom Lantos
Bob Clement
Ron Kink
Bernard Sanders
James P. McGovern
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