Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to warn China’s support for Iran could fuel conflict and raise the risk of a full-scale global war ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing.
A new congressional investigation detailed how China he buys concessional oil from corrupt governments around the world at a discount.
The House Select Committee on China has released its report on how China is evading sanctions by buying tens of millions of barrels of oil from US-sanctioned countries such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela, using “large fleets” of tankers to transport them. approved oil.
It found that licensed oil accounted for one-fifth of China’s total oil imports after the country became a buyer of last resort for those rogue regimes, allowing it to amass large reserves of oil while buying at below-market prices.
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Oil sales are a key factor in the economies of Iran, Russia and Venezuela, and the report noted that energy exports will generate an estimated $120 billion in Russian income by 2024, about 30% of all income.
Iran’s oil revenue is estimated to exceed $50 billion by 2025, representing about 35% of its budget. Likewise, the sale of crude oil was the main source of Venezuela’s hard currency.
China has been an important consumer of oil with concessions from countries such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela. (Reuters)
“From this scandal that has been allowed, China has put together a lot strategic petroleum reserve — about 1.2 billion barrels by early 2026, which equates to about 109 days of offshore protection — at the lowest market cost from the very barrels of Western penalties designed to collapse,” the committee wrote.
The select committee said China relies on foreign suppliers for about 70% of its oil, much of which comes via sea routes that could be blocked by the US navy and allied forces in a crisis, such as this one from the sea. Taiwan danger. That vulnerability has prompted China’s leaders to declare energy security “an urgent need for superpower competition” and to build its own large-scale storage facility.
The report detailed how China uses shadow tankers, often older tankers operating under unclear ownership under foreign flags with non-Western insurance that allow them to avoid compliance with Western maritime laws.
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China has built up its oil reserves in part by shipping in shadow tankers. (Stefan Sauer/photo alliance via Getty Images)
The panel cited data from cargo data and analytics firm Kpler, which tracks ship movements and trade patterns using satellite images, obtained. shadow ships and tipped tankers transported an estimated 10.3 million barrels of crude oil per day last year, about one-third to China.
In addition, it shipped 2.2 million barrels per day of highly refined products such as fuel oil and crude oil, while China received about 10.3%; while China also received about 45.8% of the chemical and biological cargo of the ships.
“China buys oil from corrupt regimes, using illegal, hard-to-trace channels that include shell companies, Chinese refineries and dozens of oil tankers,” said Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich.
“This investigation reveals important details about how the Chinese Communist Party keeps the Iranian and Russian economies afloat while promoting its authoritarian agenda.”
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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have deepened ties between the two countries, with energy trade being an important aspect of their relationship. (Contributor/Getty Images)
China’s oil resources have been under pressure after the US action to arrest Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and enforcement actions against Venezuelan oil, as well as the war in Venezuela. Iran, which has reduced the movement of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the war, China imported 3.4 million barrels of oil per day from Gulf producers through the Strait. While Iran’s defense fleet continues to deliver supplies at pre-war levels, exports to the region have dropped to a halt, prompting China to ban fuel exports and raise prices to reduce the impact of oil disruptions.
The committee’s investigation led to a number of policy recommendations that lawmakers must consider as they look to combat the flow of oil that has been approved for profit. corrupt governments.
Those proposals include imposing sanctions on ports, facility operators and similar businesses that receive cargo transported by ships and establishing a reward system for reporting sanctions evasion – particularly in transit hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Dubai.
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It also includes having financial regulators investigate possible stock market manipulation and activities by organizations involved in organized procurement and deep discount routing. Raw Russian by foreign refiners.
The panel also called for the creation of an emergency framework with major oil producers Saudi Arabiathe UAE and Iraq are expanding supplies because continued low prices will reduce the discount available for approved crude oil from Iran and Russia.
