cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8461878

China is the world’s largest importer of crude oil, with energy supply chains that run through countries under heavy sanctions by Western governments.

This year, military actions in Venezuela and in the Persian Gulf were believed to shut off China’s supplies of discounted crude, and that shortages would result in China, with lower prices in North America.

But the opposite happened. China’s economy continues to operate with high levels of crude surplus, while Western markets are seeing severe shortages and sharp price increases.

Over the past decade, China has invested hundreds of billions of dollars into new energy projects across the world, via the Belt and Road Initiative. Those projects, and the associated logistics and transport systems, are now mature, and today supply China with massive volumes of energy, minerals, metals, and food.

The BRI investments have also forged a powerful economic and diplomatic bloc of countries who are immune from Western sanctions and even military threats, while their intra-bloc trade grows at double-digit rates every year.