On this episode of China Uncensored,
looting and polluting is not the way!
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,
I'm your host Chris Chappell.
The Amazon!
Home to some of the richest biodiversity on the planet.
One in ten species in the world make their home here.
Pristine waters, lush forests, and...
Oh right. That.
Yeah that's a Chinese oil exploration rig.
You see, China has just bought a chunk of the Amazon rainforest
in Ecuador the size of nearly two New York Cities.
The deal was announced at the end of January.
For just 80 million dollars,
a consortium of two Chinese state owned oil companies
will get to poke around for oil in the pristine, untouched Amazon.
"Our world is in peril!
Gaia, the spirit of the Earth,
can no longer stand the terrible destruction plaguing our planet."
But when your best option for preserving the environment
is a superhero whose only weakness is getting dirty...
"How do you like my pollution pod, Captain Planet?"
"Weak. Feel weak..."
Well, I guess we don't really need the rainforest, do we?
What's that, Shelley?
Oh, it's critical to sustaining life on earth.
Anyhow, there are apparently more concerns than just environmental.
Indigenous tribes living in the region
are also going to be affected by the intrusion of Chinese oil production.
But not to worry,
because according to Ecuador's constitution,
the government must consult with local groups
before approving any environmental projects like this.
And they did!
In fact they met with 360 community representatives,
according to this local news report.
"They threatened the people, saying
'If all of you don't accept,
the government will come with police and military
and they will remove you from this territory.'"
See?
Successful consultation.
I guess Ecuadorian officials have been
learning negotiation tactics from China.
Anyhow, this oil deal was just part of $7.5 billion worth
of new financing agreements between the two countries.
And Ecuador already owes China billions.
Since 2009, China has invested $11 billion in Ecuador.
See this beautiful waterfall along the Coca River?
Won't be there for long,
thanks to the $2.2 billion hydroelectric dam China is building.
It will provide enough power to light more than a third of Ecuador.
It's also, however, built in an area prone to earthquakes,
and sits next to the base of a volcano that erupted as recently as...
last year.
And this is the problem:
It's tempting for a developing country like Ecuador
to take money from the Chinese Communist Party and its state-owned companies,
but it carries a prices.
Often times, deals with China also bring along China's,
shall we say,
longstanding respect for worker safety.
They also bring steep interest rates,
and you can basically kiss the rights to your natural resources goodbye for years.
China will get up to 90% of Ecuador's oil shipments.
And a lot of that will go towards paying off those loans.
Ecuador is like the young, bright-eyed college student.
And China, the student loan lender.
It seemed like a good deal at the time!
Now, wait, aren't US companies also doing the same thing?
Well, yes, actually.
For example, in 2011,
an Ecuadorian court ordered Chevron to pay damages for
polluting the rainforest.
And now big oil has to pay for its crimes.
Oh, nevermind.
Of course, a key difference is that Chevron is a private company,
not state-owned like the Chinese ones.
And the US government allowed Chevron to be sued in a US court.
In China, no court would allow its state-owned companies to be sued.
But regardless, there should be a lesson here for Ecuador.
Don't let foreign oil giants destroy your rainforest,
because that's kind of what happens when you let them in.
So why would Ecuador go for this deal?
Money.
It needs the money.
And why would they work with China over, say, the United States?
Because the Chinese regime lends money to governments
that can't or won't do business with the West.
Despite problems with some private companies,
in general loans from Western countries come with demands
for government transparency, freedom of the press,
and at least some degree of environmental protection.
The Communist Party of China, on the other hand, makes no such demands.
"'Cause greedy human beings
will always lend a hand
with the destruction of
this worthless jungle land."
Part of the reason Ecuador's economy has turned to toxic sludge
is thanks to its socialist president, Rafael Correa.
President Correa's father was a cocaine smuggler imprisoned by the US.
Some experts believe he blamed the US for his father's eventual suicide.
That could be why one of the first things he did as president
was expel a critical US military base of operations for the War on Drugs.
Then, in 2008, he decided that the billions of dollars in debt
Ecuador owed to Western countries was "immoral and illegitimate,"
and decided to stop paying.
Ecuador went into default.
And since this was 2008 during the global financial crisis,
oil prices collapsed,
and the developed world wouldn't do business with him.
So Ecuador turned to the Chinese regime for money.
But this kind of deal may backfire for China too.
In the CCP's relentless push for greater international power,
they're pegging the Chinese economy on corrupt, unstable regimes.
Not just Ecuador.
They've also loaned money to such clear winners as
Yemen, Zimbabwe, and Syria.
China might not ever get this money back,
and that's money taken out of the pockets of your average Chinese citizen.
As for the fate of the Amazon, well...
"The power is yours!"
Or maybe China's.
“威力屬於你們！”
So what do you think?
Is Ecuador making the right decision?
Leave your comments below.
And check out our Facebook page for more content.
Once again, I'm Chris Chappell.
See you next time.