China is becoming a big oil consumer

China is becoming a big oil consumer (NSI News Source Info) September 2, 2008: Chinese oil consumption (most of it imported) continues to rise, to 7.4 million barrels a day (global demand is over 80 million barrels a day, the U.S. accounts for a quarter of that). The government controls fuel prices, and raised them over the Summer. This did not reduce demand as much as expected. Oil use has largely kept pace with annual increases in economic activity (10 percent a year for nearly two decades), and that has been a major factor in the world price of oil more than tripling in the last decade. But this has made China more dependent on sea routes to the Persian Gulf and Africa (where China gets most of its oil). Thus the growing interest in expanding the size of the fleet. China is no longer a self-sufficient "continental" power, as it had been for thousands of years. Now China is dependent on international trade to keep its economy going. As the U.S. has cracked down on terrorists using the international banking system. In response, the terrorists have sought out countries that would allow their banks to deal with terrorists, and are immune to pressure from the United States. Chinese banks have thus become the favorite of international terrorist organizations, at least those that do not operate in China, or are hostile to China.