Unocal Statement on Burma Selective

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Subject: Unocal Statement on Burma Selective Purchasing Ordinance by the

City of Los Angeles 
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Unocal Statement on Burma Selective Purchasing Ordinance by the City of Los
Angeles 
04:30 p.m Dec 15, 1998 Eastern 
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Unocal Corporation today issued
the following statement after the Los Angeles City Council approved an
ordinance prohibiting certain contracts with firms that do business in Burma
(Myanmar). 

The approval today of the Burma ordinance by the city council is
counterproductive and unconstitutional. Under the U.S. Constitution, foreign
policy is the province of the federal government, not dozens of U.S. cities
and municipalities. By this action, the city council has moved beyond its
legal authority. 

A similar statute in Massachusetts was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S.
District Court, and then the court ordered that state to pay the legal fees
of those who challenges the statute. Los Angeles could now find itself using
taxpayer dollars to defend this well intended, but inappropriate measure. 

The ordinance also sends an unwelcome message to the city's trading partners
in the Pacific Rim. It is a slap in the face of the Association of Southeast
Asia Nations (ASEAN), which has already condemned such sanctions. 

The most successful approach for positive change is through engagement, not
political isolation and economic quarantine. This has been demonstrated
repeatedly. In Burma, for example, the Yadana natural gas project has been
instrumental in changing military labor practices in the region of the
pipeline. At the same time, the project created high-paying jobs,
established health centers, built new schools and implemented socio-economic
development programs for an area that was extremely undeveloped. SOURCE
Unocal Corporation