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Oil-slicked diplomacy: China's quest for energy resources, whatever the human rights cost, is taking it where western nations will not go.

Article Excerpt
The most oil-slicked imperial power in the world today is not, as some would have you believe, the United States. It is China. The Bush administration's foray into the Middle East may well turn out to be little more than a duty-free shopping trip for Iraqi oil, and its stated intention to democratise the region merely a charade. But China's current energy policy is more rapacious and calculating than anything dreamt up by the White House. To put it another way, if you want to know what's propping up a military junta in Burma, or why thousands of people have been slaughtered in Darfur, ask Beijing.

For once, black gold really is at the heart of the problem. A decade ago, China's domestic oil production satisfied its demand. But output from its top four oil fields is declining and its proven reserves may be depleted by 2020. With a population pushing 1.3 billion and an economy growing by 9 per cent a year, China's energy demand has soared--forcing it to look elsewhere for oil. Since 1999, its imports have doubled and it is now the world's second biggest oil consumer, after the US.

Fearful of buying on the volatile open market, though, Beijing has sent its state-owned oil firms overseas to secure sources it can exploit itself. In the past couple of years, China inked deals with Indonesia, Australia, Uzbekistan, and Russia. Beijing also has its eyes on the western hemisphere. It recently reached agreements with Brazil, Venezuela and Canada, and has been wooing Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

So far, so uncontroversial. But China has also sunk its teeth into a country...

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