WASHINGTON — The United States’ energy renaissance is catching attention in Beijing, where Chinese leaders view the phenomenon as “a double-edged sword,” according to a white paper from the free-market group American Council for Capital Formation.
“China trusted the United States more when U.S. oil import dependency was higher and Washington actively sought increases in global oil production, a mutually shared objective,” writes George David Banks, executive vice president of the group. “In Beijing’s view, the U.S. shale revolution has increased U.S. immunity to a reduction in global supply resulting from military conflict, political instability, or international sanctions, thereby making Washington a less reliable partner in managing the world’s energy markets.”
But the recent surge in U.S. oil and gas production offers an opportunity for the two countries to work together, Banks writes, arguing that the collaboration (along with U.S. energy exports) could ease tensions in the South China Sea and spur stability in the Asia Pacific.
WNU Editor: Energy has always been a problem for China. When I was working in China in the mid 1980s, I asked for a generator because the electricity was always going on and off. And while the Chinese electrical grid is functioning better today .... energy is China's Achilles Heel. It also explains why the Chinese are being "hard-nose" about the South China Sea .... it is for the energy resources that may lie beneath the sea-bed, and also a means to control of the flow and transport of energy resources in Asia.