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community rights may be realized, independent of the oil producer.
If Pan-Pacifi c networks are formed, even greater and more inclusive
standards from the bottom up and from Southern perspectives may be
achieved. If transnational advocacy networks continue to pressure MNCs
and stockholders, China's SOEs may continue to strive to meet and
perhaps exceed Northern standards. As for the fi nal condition, Northern
advocates, who have worked to end environmental injustice, to prevent
environmental health burdens, and to block the production of toxins,
remain signifi cant and supportive actors even when the North is absent
from the confl ict. Conservationists in the North link China to South
America through their regional and national offi ces, while North-South
EJ networks raise global standards, to which the Chinese aim.
Finally, where Northern multinationals and Chinese SOEs share fi elds
or operations there are technology and environmental standard transfers.
Yet, this transfer remains tiered and representative of persistent spatial
disparities. China is an economic and political power exerting its demands
on weaker, yet oil-rich, nations in some places to the ongoing detriment
of local ecosystems, communities, and the working poor. Likewise, while
there have been standard transfers between Northern MNCs and Chinese
SOEs, there have not yet been substantial advocacy transfers to support
affected communities and ecosystems in the global South. Indeed, Chinese
professionals may simply imitate citizens of colonial empires in the past
and neocolonial and neoliberal benefi ciaries of today, who fail to link
their economic prosperity with the burdens of others.
Notes
I would like to thank Naihua Zhang for her insightful comments on an earlier
draft. Portions of this chapter have been presented at the European Consortium
for Political Research on Environmental Capacity Development in Transition
States and Emerging Democracies, Rennes, France, April 2008, and the Beijing
International Conference on Environmental Sociology, Beijing, China, July 2007.
1. On the health impacts of oil exposure, see Hurtig and San Sebastian 2002;
O'Rourke and Connolly 2003; Ott 2005; San Sebastian et al. 2001.
2. China operates in and/or imports oil from Algeria, Angola, Australia, Azer-
baijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia,
Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman,
Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Thailand, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Vietnam. See Alden and Davies 2006; Andrews-
Speed and Vinogradov 2000; Clasper 2005; Ebel 2005; Junger 2007; Naidu and
Davies 2006; Widener 2007a; Zweig and Jianhai 2005. On Africa, see Manji
and Marks 2007; on South America, see Kurlantzick 2006 and Lafargue 2006.
