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| East Asia |
| ChiComs seek control of oil shipping chokepoints |
| 2004-01-22 |
| From Geostrategy-Direct... China’s 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 China’s oil supplies were attacked at sea. Zhang stated that whoever controls the Strait of Malacca and the Indian Ocean could interdict China’s strategic oil transportation route and pose a threat to China’s 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 China’s 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 country’s 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 China’s "Malacca dilemma" is a key consideration to China’s oil security. Hu reminded a conference of communist leaders that he has expressed concern over the fact that more than half of China’s 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 China’s 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 |
| #8 China is going on about the Straits of Malacca as a roundabout way of justifying its grab for the South China Sea. If China could enforce its claim to the South China Sea and all of the islands within that body of water, it wouldn't need a blue water navy to patrol the Straits of Malacca. China could set up a chain of naval bases from the Philippines all the way to Indonesia. This statement has to be causing jitters among the nations all along the South China Sea, not to mention the Northeast Asian countries that depend on that shipping lane, namely Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-1-22 8:41:46 PM |
| #7 Who is putting their money where their mouth is, Hu? Hu's on first??? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-1-22 8:34:32 PM |
| #6 China's sub fleet would be sunk in the first hours of any attack and then it's fish in a barrel time - that's one reason tehy're threatening Taiwan with a (self-destructive) missile barrage rather than an amphib/sea invasion, which is what they'd really like to do... Sounds like we need to screw with their Spratley plans as well, huh? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-1-22 8:16:10 PM |
| #5 Holding the straights would be nice for China I guess, but the US Navy can just annihilate any China bound shipping when it leaves the source all over the rest of the world. So... unless they plan on a world wide navy, they are wasting their time blathering about defending their shipping. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2004-1-22 7:52:06 PM |
| #4 Tibor, I would think that the result of the Chinese statements will be an eventual Japanese naval build-up. If China actually planned to follow through with a naval build-up that would threaten the US, they could start now and be ready in 25 years - if they were willing to scrap their economy. The Panama Canal is unsuitable for super tankers - one of the reasons that there is talk of building a wider canal through Nicaragagua I think. I think the Chinese venture their is intended to gain an economic and intelligence base in the hemisphere. I don't think that holding the canal by force would be miltarily tenable for the Chicoms. They could sabotage the canal, though, ala Nasser. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-22 7:22:02 PM |
| #3 They are certainly not much of a blue water force, Tibor You're most likely correct,Tibor, but I've read that China has purchased surplus ships,including subs, from other blue water navies with the sworn agreement that the ships would be salvaged or converted to non-military uses. But then China turned right around and violated those agreements. So I GOOGLED on: "order of battle", China, navy. I found that that do have at least a couple of ships than can get beyond 12 miles off shore. Here's the reference to the Chinese Eastern Sea Fleet... http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/esf-orbat.htm there's more at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/east-sea.htm |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-1-22 7:19:13 PM |
| #2 Tibor---That is exactly the big threat. Al-Q or proxy pirates. Al-Q pirates could go after anyone's supertanker. It would be better for all of us to band together than fight among ourselves. However, I think China has other agendas in their world view of things. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-1-22 6:03:16 PM |
| #1 Shipping routes have been of interest to the Chicoms for a while now. For instance, a Chinese state-owned company runs the Panama Canal. Thanks, Jimmah! But seriously, how much capability does the Chinese Navy really have? They are certainly not much of a blue water force. Also, I wonder if this sudden concern has anything to do with India's planned purchase of a Russkie aircraft carrier. Finally, we have heard from Mansoor Ijaz and others that AQ types have been hijacking tankers to learn how to steer them (not how to dock them) and kidnapping scuba experts to learn how to dive (and not necessarily surface). The Malacca Straits would be vulnerable to that type of AQ attack. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2004-1-22 5:50:15 PM |