|
ChiComs seek control of oil shipping chokepoints
From Geostrategy-Direct...Chinaâs government last week disclosed that it has strategic interests over oil supply lines and hinted that it would use force to control the shipping lanes. So who is is threatening the shipping lanes except pirates (arrr...)? Zhang Yuncheng, a specialist with the government-run China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the PRC-owned Wen Wei Po newspaper that Beijing would face an energy crisis if Chinaâs oil supplies were attacked at sea. Zhang stated that whoever controls the Strait of Malacca and the Indian Ocean could interdict Chinaâs strategic oil transportation route and pose a threat to Chinaâs energy security. An oil tanker blown up in the Strait of Malacca, for example, would close the route for a long period of time, forcing a re-routing of Chinese energy. So why not band together with other shipping nations to protect the strait? The newspaper quoted a military expert as saying: "To protect Chinaâs interests on the international shipping route, its naval security forces should be capable in two aspects: One is making quick reactions, including military reaction, when a crisis occurs so as to display the strength for safeguarding the countryâs interests. The other is the capability of reciprocal deterrence. This means if you can threaten my international shipping route security, I can also threaten your security in various fields, including your international shipping route security." Basically a threat directed towards the US. Have we hit a nerve here? Chinese President Hu Jintao stated recently that Chinaâs "Malacca dilemma" is a key consideration to Chinaâs oil security. Hu reminded a conference of communist leaders that he has expressed concern over the fact that more than half of Chinaâs oil imports come from the Mideast, Africa and Southeast Asia. About four-fifths of the imported oil is shipped through the Malacca Strait. I can see their concern about their energy sources. However many other nations are in the same boat, so to speak, being dependent upon the Malacca Strait and the Hu stated that "certain powers have all along encroached on and tried to control the navigation route through the strait," a veiled reference to the United States. Name the instances, this is crap. "It is essential to take active steps to ensure Chinaâs oil security by working from the level of the new strategic situation in drawing up a new oil energy source development strategy, persisting in giving equal weight to economizing and resource exploitation and to both domestic and foreign resources, establishing a Chinese oil strategic reserve, gradually building foreign oil production and supply bases, and actively developing oil substitutes," Hu said. Throw away line. Everybody wants to do that. Who is putting their money where their mouth is, Hu? Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-01-22 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=24846 |