What's really driving China's military and diplomatic strategy ?

This Pentagon map shows what's really driving China's military and diplomatic strategy

by JEREMY BENDER


China's Communist Party-led government has "constructed or invested in energy projects in more than 50 countries," the Department of Defense's 2015 report on the Chinese military notes. This has enabled China to import approximately 60 percent of its oil supply in 2014 as well as about 32% of its natural gas supply.


China leaders believe their country is a rising superpower on track to have the world's largest economy and Asia's most formidable military.

There's one huge problem: energy needs.

Hopes for energy independence have been dashed by China's continuing population growth, along with increasing per capita consumption as the economy expands.

Continued economic growth is imperative for China's leaders. The Communist Party's legitimacy, and the social and political stability resulting from it, is largely dependent on rising prosperity. China's oppressive political system is generally tolerated (although beloved) because of the growth its brought the country.

That implicit arrangement can't last unless the Communist Party upholds its end of the deal and keeps growth going. But an industrialized and still developing economy like China's can't grow without plentiful oil and gas.

In order to offset rising demand and ensure both economic growth and its own long-term survival, China's Communist Party-led government has "constructed or invested in energy projects in more than 50 countries," the Department of Defense's 2015 report on the Chinese military notes. This has enabled China to import approximately 60 percent of its oil supply in 2014 as well as about 32% of its natural gas supply.

This reliance on energy imports puts Beijing in a potentially uncomfortably position, as a map in the Pentagon report demonstrates. Oil and gas imports are a life-and-death matter for China's rulers, meaning they need a military strategy to defend crucial energy chokepoints.

As the map shows, large percentages of China's petroleum move through two of the world's main maritime chokepoints (note that the percentages shown add up to over 100% as shipments may travel through multiple chokepoints):

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