Divest China?

Divestment campaigns. Boycotts. UN-approved sanctions. Economic pressure– driven by both governments as well as NGOS, human rights groups as well as some pension funds– is an increasingly contentious part of the debate about Iran (and its nuclear program) and Darfur (and its ongoing human rights travesty).
China is at the center of both of those debates, as its government and its companies increasingly face global economic pressure, as the world desperately gropes for some (non military) resolution to both issues. Warren Buffett, aka the most famous (and richest) investor in the world, said over the weekend that divesting his company’s stake in Petro China, which produces oil in Sudan and exports it back to China, would have no impact on the Sudanese or the Chinese government’s attitude toward the ongoing calamity in the western part of Africa’s largest country, where government-backed Arab militias continue to push African tribes off their land.
Buffett’s is the conventional, establishment view in the United States. It is, however, not entirely clear that he’s right, or rather, at least in the comments of his that I’ve read, that he’s necessarily framed the issue correctly. But I’ve not yet read the complete transcript of his remarks to his shareholders (and later to reporters) about this issue, so I’ll post more on this subject in a day or two. But this (Darfur) isn’t going away, since it’s one of the few in the United States that have united both right and left wing activitists.
In the meantime, the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank in Washington, has today posted a nifty map outlining the world’s investments in Iran. Click on China and take a look at the extent of two way trade between the two countries. If you’re interested in this issue, this is a very good resource. Check it out here: www.aei.org/IranInteractive.