For a self-reliant power like China, no supplier is ever irreplaceable
TO UNDERSTAND HOW China is weathering the energy shock from the Iran war, turn back five years to Xi Jinping’s visit to an ageing oilfield on China’s eastern coast. “We must hold the energy rice bowl firmly in our hands,” he said as he toured a drilling platform. His meaning was plain. Officials normally refer to controlling the rice bowl as shorthand for China producing enough grain to feed itself. Mr Xi’s extension of the metaphor meant that China should seek self-sufficiency in energy, too.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Surviving an energy crisis”
From the March 21st 2026 edition
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