Recent Iranian saber rattling about closing the Strait of Hormuz is yet another reason for the U.S. to look north to Canada for oil imports. Military confrontation or a perceived threat of it in the strait — the route for almost 17 million barrels of oil daily — would wreak havoc on global oil supplies. The effects for the United States would be particularly severe: 75 percent of oil from Saudi Arabia, which at 12 percent of net U.S. imports of crude oil and petroleum products is our second-largest supplier, passes through this strategic waterway. Occasional threats to global oil [...]
In December, with a dispute over oil-transit fees between Sudan and South Sudan exacerbating already tense post-independence relations, the world looked to China to save the day. Beijing sent Special Envoy Liu Guijin to negotiations in Addis Ababa in the hopes of brokering a deal on oil revenues and facilitating a final post-independence settlement between the two sides. A month later, the crisis between and within the two Sudans continues. But the episode raises the question of whether China’s evolving Sudan policy reflects a broader evolution in its approach to African and international diplomacy. China’s current relations with the two [...]
During a visit to the Persian Gulf countries last month, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called for the conclusion of negotiations for a free trade agreement between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. In an email interview, Jean-Francois Seznec, a visiting associate professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, discussed the proposed China-GCC free trade agreement. WPR: How has trade between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries evolved over the past decade? Jean-Francois Seznec: Trade between the GCC and China has grown to about $90 billion in 2010 from $10 billion 10 years ago. China imports [...]
