Nix CNOOC-Nexen Deal, Mosher Says

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Aug 10, 2012, 02:36 ET

FRONT ROYAL, Va., Aug. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- PRI President Steven Mosher, an internationally recognized authority on China, opposes China's global resource grab.

In an interview with Canadian TV Show SUN NEWS MEDIA on August 8, he called upon the Canadian government to nix the CNOOC-Nexen deal. The Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) should not be allowed to purchase Canadian oil producer Nexen, he says, calling it "a move toward the Chinese state's control and ownership of Canadian resources."

"This is a bad deal for the Canadian people," says Mosher. "It's a bad deal because this is not a free market transaction. CNOOC is owned by the Chinese party-state, not by the Chinese people. There is no reciprocity. Imagine what would happen if, instead of CNOOC trying to buy Nexen, it was the other way around. The Chinese party-state will never let any of its state owned companies be sold on the open market to foreign competitors, period."

"It's also a bad deal because the company itself has a terrible human rights and environmental record," Mosher went on. "CNOOC has a long history of labor disputes, oil spills and refinery explosions."

"CNOOC is basically a tool of the Chinese party state," says Mosher. "Are you going to sell the birthright of the Canadian people to a one-party dictatorship that has one of the worst human rights records in the world? Worse yet, are you going to allow the Chinese party-state to have a say in Canada's internal affairs, which is what will happen if this deal goes through."

"China is undermining democracy and human rights everywhere it goes," Mosher concludes. "I'm afraid the same thing will happen gradually, incrementally in places like Canada as well."

See the whole interview here! Also, read Steven Mosher's Washington Times review of the book "Winner Takes All: China's Race for Resources and What it Means for the World."