Abstract
Over the past decade, the Chinese government has embraced the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and has issued laws and regulations to improve its overseas business performance in areas such as environmental protection, labour rights, and other governance issues. As an authoritarian state, China is believed to have a strong political and bureaucratic power over CSR implementation, particularly over the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) that received enormous national support for overseas investment. However, in recent years, Chinese overseas investments have encountered local resistance and criticism for China’s non-compliance of local laws and poor implementation of CSR, prominently in Myanmar. This chapter aims to contribute to the understanding of China’s political economy in Myanmar’s hydropower sector by assessing an often neglected segment that regards the evolving roles of the business actors and on the externalities of business activities on the state-to-state relations. China’s initiative of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) makes the study of Chinese CSR meaningful as it also aims to identify common problems facing Chinese investments and CSR infrastructure development levels of individual host countries.
China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), was merged with State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) to form the current State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC). This chapter will use CPI as the subject.
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Notes
- 1.
For example, http://burma.irrawaddy.com/article/2014/03/06/55850.html.
- 2.
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21665030-chinese-firms-are-still-stealing-myanmars-forests-stumped, accessed 29 November 2016.
- 3.
China’s dams: both welcome and worrying, http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/asia-pacific/chinas-dams-both-welcome-and-worrying, accessed 16 December 2015.
- 4.
Regulation of the People’s Republic of China on the Disclosure of Government Information, No. 492. 5 April 2007. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/node_327.htm, accessed 13 June 2015.
- 5.
https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/chinese-government-guidelines-for-overseas-investment-7934, accessed 11 January 2016.
- 6.
https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/3825-Following-the-money, accessed 28 December 2015.
- 7.
SINOSURE has nine rankings for referring the risk level of the investment destination. The first ranking indicates the safest while the ninth implies the most risky country. Myanmar is ranked eighth in the report.
- 8.
The Myitsone Dam on the Irrawaddy River: A Briefing, International Rivers, 28 September 2011, https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/the-myitsone-dam-on-the-irrawaddy-river-a-briefing-3931, accessed 17 December 2015.
- 9.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NB07Ae01.html, accessed 18 December 2015.
- 10.
Myanmar Affairs, “The poll of Ayeyarwady Myitsone hydropower project”, Myanmar Affairs Newsletter, http://www.myanmaraffairs.com/mmaffairs2015/sites/default/files/poll_pdf/2011_Survey/Opinion%20Poll%20on%20Ayeyawaddy%20Myitsone%20Dam%20Hydropower%20Project_Sept_2011.pdf, translated by the Myanmar student in Yunnan, accessed 19 December 2015.
- 11.
Dam Forces Relocation of 60 Villages, Burma Rivers Network, 28 October 2009, http://www.burmariversnetwork.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=262:concern-over-forced-relocation-of-60-kachin-villages&catid=11&Itemid=46, accessed 17 December 2015.
- 12.
https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/irrawaddy-myitsone-dam-0, accessed 27 November 2015.
- 13.
- 14.
BRN responds to interview on Myitsone dam by CPI president, Mizzima News, 5 October 2011, http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs12/Mizzima-BRN-Dams.pdf, accessed 27 November 2015.
- 15.
http://burmese.dvb.no/archives/15756, translated by a student in Yunnan, accessed 19 December 2015.
- 16.
President Lu Qizhou’s Answers to Media about the Suspension of Construction of Myitsone Hydropower Station, 4 October 2011, CPI News, http://eng.cpicorp.com.cn/NewsCenter/CorporateNews/201110/t20111004_163111.htm, accessed 27 November 2015.
- 17.
https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4574-Lessons-from-the-Irrawaddy, accessed 17 December 2015.
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https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4852-Chinese-power-Burmese-politics, accessed 26 December 2015. Yang Meng, 2 April 2012.
- 19.
Five anti-Irrawaddy dam detainees freed in Myitkyina, Kachin News Group, 16 November 2007, http://www.kachinnews.com/news/326-five-anti-irrawaddy-dam-detainees-freed-in-myitkyina.html, accessed 13 December 2015.
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Four killed, 12 injured in bomb blasts in Irrawaddy-Myitsone dam site, 17 April, 2010, Kachin News Group, http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1512-four-killed-12-injured-in-bomb-blasts-in-irrawaddy-myitsone-dam-site.html, accessed 13 December 2015.
- 21.
KIO warns China: Myitsone Dam could spark ‘civil war’, May 20, 2011, Mizzima, http://archive-1.mizzima.com/special-29517/myitsone-dam-controversy/5295-kio-warns-china-myitsone-dam-could-spark-civil-war, accessed 13 December 2015.
- 22.
Yu Xiaogang in Liao, Ruo, Lessons from the Irrawaddy, China Dialogue, 10 October 2010, https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4574-Lessons-from-the-Irrawaddy, accessed 26 November 2015.
- 23.
Li Guanghua, in Meng, Y., Chinese Power, Burmese Politics. China Dialogue, 2 April 2012, https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4852-Chinese-power-Burmese-politics, accessed 26 November 2015.
- 24.
Ibid.
- 25.
Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of Ministry of Commerce, Investment Promotion Agency of MOFCOM , Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Embassy of China, Duiwai Touzi Hezuo Guobie Zhinan (Miandian), Guidelines for Overseas Investment and Cooperation in Other Countries and Regions (Myanmar), 2014, pp. 66 and 69, http://aaa.ccpit.org/Category7/Asset/2015/Mar/13/onlineeditimages/file71426207826381.pdf, accessed 28 November 2015.
- 26.
http://www.cec.org.cn/xinwenpingxi/2013-08-16/107538.html, accessed 28 December 2016. China Electricity Council.
- 27.
The Myitsone Dam on the Irrawaddy River: A Briefing, https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/the-myitsone-dam-on-the-irrawaddy-river-a-briefing-3931, accessed 25 December 2015.
- 28.
http://burmese.dvb.no/archives/15756, translated by a student in Yunnan, accessed 19 December 2015. Aung 2011.
- 29.
https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/the-myitsone-dam-on-the-irrawaddy-river-a-briefing-3931, accessed 17 December 2015.
- 30.
Personal communication, Beijing, 7–8 December 2015.
- 31.
Canyu Gongyi Shiye, Lvxing Shehui Zeren, (Participate in Philanthropy, Fulfil Social Responsibility), http://www.cpiyn.com.cn/Liems/site/zeren/zerenNews.jsp?nid=6827, accessed 15 April 2016.
- 32.
Xinhua Wang: Chongqi Zhongmian Hezi Misong Dianzhan Husheng Jianqi, (Xinhua Agency: Emerging Claims to Restart co-funded Myitsone Dam), http://www.spic.com.cn/mtbd/201309/t20130906_222956.htm, accessed 29 December 2015.
- 33.
Luo YongChan and Zhang Ruogu, Guojia Diantou Xiang Miandian Shuizai Diqu Tigong Zhenzai Jiuzhu, “CPI participated in the flood relief of Myanmar”, http://www.cec.org.cn/hangyewenhua/qiyeyushehuizerenbaogao/zhongdiantoujituangongsi/2016-08-26/157547.html, accessed 2 December 2016.
- 34.
Jituan Gongsi Jianxing ‘Yidaiyilu’, Zuo Fuzeren Quanqiu Gongmin, 16 August 2012 http://www.spic.com.cn/ttxw/201608/t20160811_266402.htm, accessed 26 September 2016.
- 35.
Ibid.
- 36.
CPI was a member of UNGC in 2009. However, it was removed from the membership in 2014 due to communication problems, https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/participants/2076-China-Power-Investment-Corporation, accessed 3 January 2016.
- 37.
Yijiang Shangyou Shui Dian Youxian Zeren Gongsi 2010–2012 Nian Shehui Zeren Bagao (Upstream Ayeyawady Confluence Basin Hydropower CSR Report from Year 2010–2012) 25 December 2013. http://www.cpiyn.com.cn/Liems/site/zeren/zerenNews.jsp?nid=8813, accessed 28 December 2015.
- 38.
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/16882-cpi-calculates-cost-of-myitsone-dam.html, accessed 28 November 2015.
- 39.
Kachin Groups Urge Halt to Resource Extraction in Northern Burma, The Irrawaddy, 8 March 2016, http://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/kachin-groups-urge-halt-to-resource-extraction-in-northern-burma.html, accessed 17 March 2016.
- 40.
Salween in Focus for Burmese Civil Society on Rivers Day, Irrawaddy, 15 March 2016, http://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/salween-in-focus-for-burmese-civil-society-on-rivers-day.html, accessed 17 March 2016.
- 41.
Yijiang Shangyou Shuidian Youxian Zeren Gongsi Shengming (Declaration of Upstream Ayeyarwady Confluence Basin Hydrowpower Co. Ltd). http://www.mhwmm.com/ch/NewsView.asp?ID=16616, accessed 11 November 2016.
- 42.
Anonymous, personal communication, Yunnan, 17 December 2015.
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Gong, X. (2018). China Power Investment Corporation in Myanmar. In: Arduino, A., Gong, X. (eds) Securing the Belt and Road Initiative. Palgrave, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7116-4_7
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