Rising China Oil Use Limits US Political, Business Options

China’s soaring demand for oil and other commodities has taken it into regions never before on its diplomatic radar screen and into countries the U.S. considers strategically important or geopolitically worrisome, a panel of experts said Thursday.

A global quest for energy sources to fuel its expanding economy has taken China to Central Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and even Canada, all areas that the U.S. was counting on to meet its own record-high demand.

“China’s surging oil demand is helping very unfriendly countries become even more unfriendly,” said Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, a Washington-based think tank that specializes in China, Russia and Eurasia. “The strength of the points of leverage the U.S. can exert on these countries is undermined by China’s energy deals.”
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