Future clashes in the Asia-Pacific highly likely due to modernizing navy and disconnect between China’s perceived “rational” behavior with the international community’s understanding of their actions.
As of 2008, oil represented 17.2% of China’s total share of primary supply making it the second widely used energy source after coal. Although coal is widely used in China, its share has been decreasing due to its pollutant nature. External and internal pressures to reduce carbon emissions also have a factor, as well as the overall health and environmental costs it poses to their society. Oil, on the other hand, continues to increase as China’s middle class rises up and starts adopting private transportation. This phenomenon has concerned Chinese officials, as they begin to think about how China will be able to source enough oil to satisfy its population? And more importantly, how can they secure a continuous flow of it?