China Will Surpass U.S. In Oil Imports; Shift In Supply And Demand Could Transform Geopolitics -- Washington Post
China will become the world’s largest importer of crude oil in October, surpassing the U.S. for the first time as the Asian giant’s rising consumer class of drivers grows increasingly thirsty for fuel, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is projecting.
China already is the largest importer of oil from the troubled Middle East, taking away a distinction that plagued the U.S. since the 1970s. Its ascendance as the world’s largest importer — even as U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil declines to negligible levels — could transform regional and world politics as the focus of global defense efforts for decades has been keeping open the vital oil shipping lanes leading from the Persian Gulf.
Juan Zarate, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the U.S. should use the occasion of China’s growing dependence on Middle Eastern oil and reduced U.S. dependence to rethink its longtime policy of bearing the lion’s share of defense costs in the Middle East and act more in its economic self-interest.
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My Comment: China`s focus will be on energy markets .... specifically obtaining oil from the Middle East. As a result .... America`s past oil shocks will probably become China`s oil shocks in the near future.
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