GOP and Big Business Could Benefit From Clash
China Conflict: The Profit Motive
by James Ridgeway


WASHINGTON, D.C., April 5—The Bush administration's great China standoff has 
less to do with a downed American spy plane and a missing Chinese pilot than it 
does with U.S. and China competing for control of the world oil routes that 
cross through southern Asia. Also at stake is an electronics gravy train for the 
corporate interests of Silicon Valley.

In seeking to protect shipping lanes for oil tankers, the U.S. has considered 
equipping nations along the Asian routes—including Taiwan—with the military 
might needed to defend the surrounding seas. China, which is also seeking 
greater access to fuel, has expressed anger over the transfer of arms to 
neighboring Taiwan.

China is the world's second-largest energy consumer. A net importer since 1993, 
by 2020 the Communist nation will be importing up to two-thirds of its oil. 
Eighty percent of those supplies will come from the Middle East. The main 
exporters now are Oman and Yemen, but China is hoping to obtain supplies from 
Saudi Arabia as well.

U.S. conservatives tie China's needs together with the perpetually vexing Saddam 
Hussein, noting that Chinese oil experts were working in Iraq when the U.S. 
bombed it recently, and that Chinese-fostered improvement in Iraqi air defense 
systems will make it more difficult for the U.S. to run its immense police 
operation in the Middle East.

In recent years China has been more active in attempting to spread its hegemony 
over ocean supply lines that lead from the Middle East through the Straits of 
Malacca. Protecting these key trade routes are of major concern to U.S. 
conservatives; they see arming Taiwan as one step in spreading a military 
presence around southern Asia. Other nations situated along the routes are the 
Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Naturally China objects to American plans for beefing up Taiwan's military. 
Major arms could include new destroyers, or possibly refurbished older ones 
intended for the shah of Iran before he was overthrown. They are built by 
shipyards in Mississippi (home of GOP senators Trent Lott and Thad Cochran) and 
in Maine (represented by GOP senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins). Both the 
conservative and liberal ends of the Republican Party make out on this one. So 
do big corporations. The engines would come from General Electric. And 
electronics, which include the super-duper Aegis missile system, advanced radar, 
command and control, and warfare systems will come from a range of Silicon 
Valley subcontractors. Whether it's enough to resurrect the pathetic NASDAQ 
stock market is anybody's guess, but it certainly won't hurt any.

The question now is how China's need for energy to fuel its modernization will 
affect global energy markets, environmental standards (or the lack thereof), and 
defense. Though the country is increasingly looking to hydroelectric and nuclear 
power, easy access to oil remains the key for China's move into the global 
economy.

[Nation] Posted April 5th, 2001 3:30 PM EST villagevoice.com exclusive