Letters to the editor, April 19, 2018 | Opinion Updated: April 18   Published April 18

William Cox makes a good case against Alaska partnering with Sinopec on the AGDC LNG project (April 14). Republican and Democratic leaders in Alaska should reject partnering with Sinopec because of it substantial long-term support for the genocidal government of Sudan.

Sinopec — the controlling parent company along with various subsidiaries — is one of the few oil companies that partners with the government of Sudan in its oil industry, thereby helping fund ongoing government-sponsored genocide and crimes against humanity. As the deadly violence in Darfur genocide increased in 2004, Sinopec began operations in Sudan and quickly became a major player in Sudan’s oil industry. Since then, Sinopec has continued operations in Sudan. From the beginning of this period (and before it, starting in 1997), U.S. sanctions explicitly prohibited American companies from doing business with Sudan’s oil industry, and those sanctions continued through December 2017. Though Sinopec was not prevented by U.S. law from supporting the genocidal government in Sudan, Sinopec should not escape censure and should not be considered qualified to be a major partner by the State of Alaska.

If supporting Sudan was not enough to disqualify it, consider that Sinopec also supports the regimes in Syria, Iran and Burma. Given these connections, who would choose Sinopec as a partner?

Let’s hope that Democrats and Republicans both insist that Alaska deserves a better partner than Sinopec.

— Eric Cohen