Chinese Leaders Looking Across the Globe to Secure Oil Imports

China needs oil, and Chinese leaders are looking to Russia, Mexico, the U.S., and beyond to find it.

According to CNN, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqlang, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi have been seeking to “bolster… energy relations with big strategic neighbors Russia and India, [and] key energy exporters Indonesia, Brunei, and South Africa.”

China’s President is traveling to the U.S. in June, and Chinese leaders just hosted a visit by Australian leader Julia Gillard.

Next week, China’s president will visit Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago to talk oil. China is also hedging its bets with “oil and gas investments” in the Middle East. 

“Saudi Arabia has long been a valued supplier” of oil, but “China is spreading its energy bets.” It does not want to become “too reliant” on any one place or source.

While China works on securing oil from around the globe, the “mainstay of China’s economy” is “gas pumped from Central Asia.” But China’s demand is great and growing, and their economic viability depends on securing tomorrow’s energy today.