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China has interest in Kurdish oil
27.9.2006 |
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Newsdesk,
September 27,-- China also seems to have a strong
interest in Iraq’s oil production, notably in
Kurdistan Region (northern Iraq). This is perhaps
because of its proximity to the Yadavaran field in
Iranian Kurdistan.
Kurds in Iraq have enjoyed de facto independence,
and Iraq’s 2005 parliamentary election gave Kurds
unprecedented influence in Iraqi politics.
Since U.S. suspension of Chinese oil concessions
with Iraq following the Iraq War in 2003, the
Chinese have looked for opportunities to access the
Kurds’ rich oilfields, which contain an estimated 40
percent of Iraq’s oil reserves and are in the only
Iraqi provinces that are relatively secure from
sectarian terrorism.
High-level government visits between the PRC and the
Kurdistan regional government have opened up
business and investment opportunities in various
sectors as well.
The Chinese also have used their relations with the
Kurds to leverage Turkey to withhold support for
Turkic-speaking Uighur refugees from China’s
Xinjiang province.
China has long been a fierce advocate of territorial
integrity and has systemically oppressed separatist
movements in Xinjiang and Tibet. Turkey has 15
million Kurds, roughly 20 percent of the total
Turkish population, and is burdened not only with
armed Kurd separatist movements, but also with
Uighur separatist activists and refugee
organizations.
Allegedly, the Chinese government has implicitly
threatened Turkey that Beijing would support Kurds
if Ankara did not make life a bit more miserable
for Uighur exiles.
Source: China and the Middle East: A New Patron of
Regional Instability
heritage org
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