Stop PetroChina
Mark Pyne
PetroChina, a newly formed "domestic" subsidiary of the
colossal state-owned China National Petroleum Company
(CNPC), is due to list their Initial Public Offering on the
New York Stock Exchange next Thursday, APRIL 6th. Visit
<http://www.savetibet.org>.
The lead underwriters, Goldmann-Sachs Group Inc., initially
hoped to raise $10 billion to fund the construction of a
7,000 mile pipeline from the Tsaidam Basin of Tibet to
Shanghai, to fund the downsizing of millions of workers by
parent company CNPC, and to support the CNPC's greater
expansion objectives abroad - including in the Sudan where
China has been complicit in the slaughter of more than 2
million Sudanese Christians.
Against all odds, a broad coalition of groups including
Tibetan rights activists, the AFL-CIO, anti-slavery groups,
and environmental organizations have succeeded in generating
a maelstrom of protest that has driven PetroChina's target
listing from $10 billion down to $2.8 billion dollars.
We have, among other things, persuaded investors and public
pension funds that control more than $1 trillion in assets -
including giants CalPERS and TIAA-CREF -- to commit to not
investing in the deal and we have made PetroChina the most
politically risky investment on the public market in more
than two decades.
BUT THERE IS MORE TO BE DONE AND WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Much like the proposed World Bank resettlement project, the
PetroChina deal will set a sinister precedent for
destructive development of the Tibetan Plateau for Chinese
interests. If PetroChina is successful it will pave the way
for China to list similar deals on international markets and
Tibet's future will be for sale to the highest bidder.
TAKE ACTION NOW! We have only until April 6th -- one week
left -- to stop this deal!
http://savetibet.wego.com/go/wego.pages.page?groupId=38613&v
iew=page&pageId=105025&folderId=105024&panelId=113858&action
=view
1. SEND THE SAMPLE LETTER BELOW TO ARTHUR LEVITT, the
Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission,
mailto:chairma...@sec.gov and demand that he put the
PetroChina offering into a "cooling-off period." This type
of delay will allow ample opportunity for the SEC to review
the numerous securities violations and to achieve greater
transparency of the risks involved with the deal -- and is
our best shot at stopping the deal all together!
Please send a carbon copy of this e-mail to our PetroChina
campaign staff (mailto:richardcha...@hotmail.com) so
we can keep track of how many letters have been sent.
2. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE in Congress and ask him/her
to urge the House Commerce Sub-Committee on Oversight and
Investigations to conduct emergency hearings on the
PetroChina IPO. The Securities Exchange Commission is
accountable to the US Congress and a hearing is our best
chance of exposing the fatal flaws in this deal so it can be
stopped.
To find out who your House Representative is, visit
http://www.savetibet.org/cgi-bin/congress.pl?cf=tibet/cong.c
f, or check in your local telephone directory.
3. WRITE YOUR STATE TREASURER and ask that your State
pension fund and other state controlled investments do not
buy PetroChina stock. It is crucial that public funds are
not used to invest in this risky and unprincipled company.
It is also critical that State Treasurers are educated about
the severe implications of this deal, so that future
attempts by the Chinese government to list companies
exploiting resources in Tibet will not be able to move
forward.
To find out who your State Treasurer is, visit
http://www.nast.net/, or check in your local telephone
directory.
Please forward this message to everyone you know and check
back to our Web site, <http://www.savetibet.org> for updates
and breaking news about this important campaign.
Thank you in advance for your help!
*********************************
Sample letter to Arthur Levitt, Chairman, Securities
Exchange Commission.
*********************************
<----------CUT HERE------------>
Dear Chairman Levitt:
I am writing regarding the PetroChina IPO due to list on the
New York Stock Exchange next week, April 6, 2000. The
PetroChina project poses serious environmental for Tibetan
communities and could result in increased human rights
violations. Moreover, PetroChina has omitted or
inadequately disclosed material information in its SEC
registration statement. These areas include:
- Lack of disclosure regarding political risks
- Inadequate disclosure regarding technology and capital
expenditures
- Inadequate disclosure regarding future financing
- Inadequate disclosure regarding below-market debt
- Inappropriate characterization of parent company China
National Petroleum Company.
These issues are material to financial decision-making and
merit further investigation by the SEC. We encourage the
Commission to adopt a "cooling off period" to ensure that
these issues receive further review and ultimately, adequate
disclosure.
I hope you will do everything within your power to ensure
that this happens. Thank you for your attention to this
critical matter.
Sincerely,
<-------------PASTE YOUR NAME, CITY, AND STATE
HERE---------->
--
Signed,
Mark Pyne
FREE TIBET!!
China may not want you to think there
ever was a place called Tibet, but there
was and always will be a place called
TIBET!!
BOYCOTT CHINESE GOODS
Check out http://www.spacepub.com/users/china/index.html
AND http://www.buyhard.org/
Buddhism is liberation through
enlightenment in a lifetime.