OIL Resources.
It can be argued that US & Russia fought for control of key resources (really oil) for approx 45 years - most recently in the 'stans (Uzbekistan, Afghanistan etc:). US fought to rid Afghanistan of Russian influence which went back to when the new USSR was the first country to give diplomatic recognition to the founding of Afghanistan.

Hitler had tried to capture the oil fields in the stans, that was a lot to do with his invasion of Russia. More recently, Chechenya was found to have immense oil reserves & Russia's war there is its determined effort to make sure it controls that resource. Muslim resurgency in the region could be seen as part of Bin Laden's grand vision of an Islamic empire in the stans & down through S.E Asia to Indonesia (pop: 240 million - 70% Islamic). Any such dream needs its own pool of oil (power) else it will never amount to anything.

America now appears to have gained control of the stans & Afghanistan is seen as a lynchpin because it is the only path to build a pipeline to the Indian ocean which would become a major outlet for disbursing oil in that hemisphere.

If China is to keep developing at its current pace (which is staggering in my eyes) then China will need access to large oil reserves & that is why I believe China has been courting Arab nations hostile to US that hold significant oil reserves.

Remember the reason Japan attacked Pearl Harbour was to cover its concurrent attempt to sieze control of the oil fields in S.E. Asia. Japan had no other source & just prior to Pearl Harbour US had placed an embargo on shipping oil to Japan using Japan's imperialism in China as the justification.

Trade in Goods.
The other point of control has to be the ability to shipp oil, military goods & goods generally, in large quatities worldwide. Huchison Whampoa is just such an organisation. Gaining control of key shipping points is a highly strategic move in any trade imperialism & perhaps China has been laying a foundation for its growth by building up its shipping capabilities to the point that it may end up controlling much of the worlds ability to ship goods anywhere.

Already much of the western world is coming to rely on Chinese manufactured goods. China ships massive quantities of all types of goods to all parts of the world. The sabre rattling over Taiwan doesn't hide the local reality that most Taiwanese manufacturers have already begun a steady migration of their manufacturing to the mainland. At the moment it is believed atht at least 30% of Taiwanese mfg has already moved. The Taiwan issue re independance is US opportunity to trigger a whatever assault should US become too threatened by China's resurgence as a powerful nation.

I don't believe this is all about China seeking world domination, it is about China wanting to reposition itself as a great nation in the modern world after centuries of suppression & civil war & isolation. In order for China to develop it needs trade (WTO now achieved), it needs modernisation (happening at a staggering pace), it needs oil and this is a bit of a problem. US is sytematically locking up all the core oil producing regions it can (those it is able to). This tends to give US the more powerful leverage & can control China's aspirations.

US policy seems to me to be to deny China any oil allies & to force China into consuming its own reserves. US is putting more effort into opening up its own reserves but is making sure it gets control of Arab & stans oil reserves & can be expected to go after what it can in S.E. Asia. The recent freeing of East Timor is a classic case in point. In the 1970s when the Fretlin (a communist related freedom movement in East Timor) took control after the Portugese walked out, US encouraged Indonesia to invade. They did so with US training & weapons (this is well documented, we in Australia at the time watched while it all happened & the government of the day supported it). Now in the 2000s, with no communist threat, US has encouraged East Timor to seek independece & got Australia to heap pressure on Indonesia to allow it to happen. Why?, because East Timor becomes a new Kuwait, it has major oil reserves in the Timor straits & US controlled oil companies get to take that oil out. Australia & East Timor have signed an agreement re access to this oil.


Cheers Doug Marker

PS: One other great point made by someone recently...
The Palestinians can never win against Israel, why?, because they have no oil!.

Quote from the end of the 1st linked article...

But while oil remains an available and relatively inexpensive resource, it will no doubt remain the backbone of economic power and an political influence in the world.

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[link|http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/newsid_677000/677610.stm|What are the world's oil resources? ]

Extract ...

The world has about 1,000 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves with the largest amounts to be found under Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iran in the Gulf.

Venezuela has the next largest reserves, while in North America there are major deposits in all of Mexico, the US and Canada. Major oil producers
Saudi Arabia

(8 million)
United States
(6.5 million)
Russia
(5.9 million)
Iran
(3.5 million)
China
(3.5 million)
(barrels/day)

Russia and China also have large proven reserves but, along with the US, they are pumping at rates which will cease to be sustainable far sooner than their Middle East counterparts. In Central Asia, Kazakhstan has large oil reserves which have not been fully exploited to date.

Africa has significant deposits in Libya, Nigeria and Algeria, while large North Sea deposits are exploited mainly by Norway.

Are we running out of oil?

Oil is a finite resource which could eventually run out. World consumption today is about 70 million barrels a day and oil producers expect this to rise to 100 million barrels by 2020.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) says its reserves are sufficient to last another 80 years at the current rate of production.

What is more likely is that there will always be oil around, it will just become harder to extract, of poorer quality and more expensive.

That is why many energy companies are currently investing large sums to find alternative sources of energy to reduce the world's reliance on oil.

etc: etc:


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OTHER ARTICLES
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"As the oil price fluctuates in the international market, China can hardly secure a stable oil supply by imports alone. Meanwhile, domestic reserves are far below the increasing oil demand. A practical way to get out of the dilemma and guarantee oil supply is to explore various channels of international cooperation, Zhou pointed out.

The strategies include: jointly run refineries or liquefied natural gas plants in major oil-producing countries, taking an active part in overseas oil and natural gas exploration and setting up our own oil-producing bases abroad. "

[link|http://www.china.org.cn/e-15/15-3-o/15-3-o-14.htm|Restructure Oil Resources]

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[link|http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/caspgrph.html|Caspian Sea Reserves (the 'stans)]

Regarding the proposed Khazakstan - China pipeline ...
"Agreement 1997; feasibility study halted in September 1999 because Kazakhstan could not commit sufficient oil flows for the next 10 years".

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Tibet as a main oil reserve - "We are confident that Tibet will become an oil reserve base in the 21st century,"

[link|http://www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/1999/7/22_2.html|Scientists comment on possible tibet oil reserves]

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North Korea believed to have 12 million barrels in oil reserves ...

[link|http://www.korea-np.co.jp/pk/072nd_issue/98120202.htm|Nth Korea Diagram of oil reserves]

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