US can afford Mideast turmoil, but can Asia?

By Ding Gang

Global Times, March 3, 2011

But where does Asia's oil come from? Among the top 10 oil importing nations, half of them are in Asia, including Japan, China, South Korea, India and Singapore. Asian countries and regions not only import a lot of oil, but also are dependent on Middle Eastern supplies. When it comes to Japanese imports of crude oil, 90 percent of the supply is purchased from the Middle East. Singapore and South Korea both import more than 80 percent of their oil from the region. The Middle East is now a more worrying region for Asia than for the US.

From the perspective of the US strategy in the Middle East, being less dependent on oil in the Middle East is beneficial to US anti-terrorism efforts and conducive for the US to implement the concepts of democracy, freedom and human rights in that region.

In the past, the US strategy in the Middle East has often been accused of being "duplicity" and "unscrupulous" under the influence of the diplomatic support for Israel and the need for oil. Although the current changes cannot make the US get rid of the influence completely, at least there are fewer restraints for the US in implementing its ideas around the world.

Changes in the Middle East again warn us that oil is a political product. The Middle East has the world's largest oil reserves, roughly 35 percent. The situation in the Middle East affects global political and economic trends and the past hikes in the price of oil have all related to the political situation in the Middle East.

Countries that are too heavily dependent on oil, especially oil from the Middle East, will suffer more serious risks. A big country has more possibilities when it is less constrained by energy imports.

Whether a country can lead in the 21st century is determined by whether it can establish an economic structure that is less dependent on non-renewable energy.

The author is a senior editor with the People's Daily. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn