China, US need to avoid conflict as global resources dwindle

[dArKeR]

Occasionally, there are tipping-point moments and we are witnessing one at the moment. Seismic change is afoot. As oil prices breach US$60 a barrel and pessimists warn that the world could be as little as 10 years away from a first-order resources crisis, China's largest oil company, China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), has launched a US$18.5 billion bid for one of the US's juiciest medium-sized oil companies, Unocal.

The world's two biggest continental economies are suddenly head to head over who controls increasingly scarce oil. The stuff of pulp novels at airport bookstalls is a reality.

The reaction in the US has been immediate, aggressive and hypocritical. Much Congressional sound and fury has been vented on Russia for not opening up more to US oil companies which want to buy strategic reserves. Now that the boot is on the other foot -- China buying an American oil company and its reserves -- US congressmen and senators are deploying Russian President Vladimir Putin's arguments as their own. US oil, jobs and national security are at issue, they blaze, and an investigation is already under way to see whether China's bid should be blocked on national security grounds. It is rigged to take months.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2005/07/12/2003263224

[bemildred]

1. No shit.

It's either that or Armageddon. Maybe filling your house with too much junk just isn't worth it.

[dArKeR]

2. It's too late for that. I haven't seen a house in America that wasn't

piled high with stuff!

[bemildred]

3. Mine is only half full! There are empty spots. So there. nt

[applegrove]

4. Likely why Bush doesn't want China in the G20. Because they might

bring up issues about access to open markets around the world in the years to come.

It seems our G8 has to stay that way - and keep Chinese on the outs.