China calls for end to Gulf conflict, offers to ease South-east Asia energy crunch

[BEIJING] China called for an end to conflict in the Gulf and said the safety of waterways should not be disturbed on Thursday (Mar 19), adding that it was ready to work with South-east Asia to address energy shortages as oil markets reel from supply shocks.

While the US-Israeli war on Iran has allowed China to cast itself as the more reliable superpower, analysts say it is wary of global energy market uncertainty, not least because it needs the resources it has been stockpiling since the late 2000s to power the manufacturing sector underpinning its economy.

Assisting South-east Asia’s 700 million people would be welcome relief to the region’s oil importers, after an order by Beijing earlier this month to ban Chinese exports of diesel, petrol and jet fuel. China is also curbing exports of fertilisers, which rely on oil and gas refining byproducts, to protect its domestic market.

“The situation in the Middle East has disrupted global energy security,” said Lin Jian, spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry, told a regular news conference when asked if South-east Asian nations had reached out to China for help.

“The countries involved should immediately cease military operations to prevent regional instability from having a greater impact on global economic development,” Lin said, adding that the safety of waterways should not be “disturbed”, without naming the Strait of Hormuz.

“China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with South-east Asian countries to jointly address energy security issues,” Lin added.

Opportunity for Chinese relations

The crisis could create new openings in countries where China had struggled to gain a foothold, said Wang Jin, senior fellow at the Beijing Club for International Dialogue, a think tank under the purview of China’s foreign ministry.

The Strait of Hormuz’s closure also highlights the relative reliability of renewable energy, compared with reliance on Gulf fossil fuels, including nuclear power and other green energy sectors in which Beijing is a world leader, Wang said.

“China hopes to develop very positive, healthy, and very consistent relations – particularly energy relations – with everybody,” Wang added.

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