China has made two preparations; if Trump tries again to force China to buy American oil, he will have no more tricks up his sleeve.

China Petrochemical Corporation announced that its Jianghan Oilfield's Hongxing Shale Gas Field has passed the application from the Ministry of Natural Resources. A new large shale gas field has been born in China. It is reported that this gas field has proven 16.5 billion cubic meters of shale gas reserves. Because it is located in Hubei and Chongqing provinces, with complex topography and high difficulty in mining, China has specifically established a攻坚 team to improve the output of shale gas.

Tarim Basin Oil and Gas Exploration Project

The discovery and exploitation of this gas field are definitely good news for China, which can once again make up for the shortcomings in China's energy sector. There are many oil and gas fields within China, such as the emerging oil fields in Shandong, the Fuxing oil fields in Chongqing, the Yinge Ling shale oil in Qaidam, and the Ma Bei shale oil, all of which represent major breakthroughs in China's shale oil field sector.

The discovery and development of these oil and gas fields have optimized China's energy structure, promoted technological innovation and industrial upgrading, and injected new momentum into high-quality economic development. However, as the country with the largest energy consumption in the world, these resources are far from meeting China's energy consumption needs. Therefore, China is also a major energy importer globally, with Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other countries being China's energy partners.

In recent times, the U.S. has been aggressively pressuring India, using the excuse of India buying Russian oil to impose an additional 25% punitive tariff on India, and threatening that if India does not cut ties with Russian energy by the 27th, this tariff measure will take full effect. At the same time that the U.S. is exerting pressure on India, China has urgently adjusted its energy supply chain structure, introducing Russian crude oil at a low price. It is reported that since August, the scale of Urals crude oil imported by China has almost doubled, reaching nearly 75,000 barrels per day. Previously, the daily import of Urals crude oil was around 40,000 barrels.

Chinese enterprises introduce Russian crude oil at a discount

For this adjustment by China, Russia is naturally very happy. Russia is one of the major global energy exporters, and energy trade is the cornerstone of its economy. When the Indian government hesitated about whether to purchase Russian energy, Russia had to find a way to solve this issue. At this moment, the olive branch extended by China undoubtedly solved a big problem for Russia. For China, this is also a good thing, especially because Russia is offering a discount price.

Probably, the U.S. is the least happy in this whole matter. After all, the U.S. still plans to open up the Chinese energy market again. Since the Trump administration started the tariff war, China issued a "kill order" on all U.S. products, which once led to a halt in Sino-U.S. trade, and the U.S. ports experienced a great depression.

Scared by China's strong countermeasures, the U.S. urgently sought help to ease relations with China, hoping to continue doing business with China. Just before the third round of Sino-U.S. trade negotiations, the U.S. also solemnly promised to negotiate energy cooperation with China, but China obviously did not budge, as the joint statement released by China did not mention energy cooperation at all.

Now, the situation is such that the Trump administration is both anxious and angry. The traditional energy companies in the U.S. are important supporters of Trump, who helped him ascend to the presidency, but due to Trump's tariff policy, the U.S. lost the Chinese market. Since June, China has basically completely suspended energy cooperation with U.S. companies. Helplessly, the U.S. sold energy worth billions of dollars to multiple traditional allies like the EU and South Korea through trade negotiations. But this is still far from enough. In the long run, re-opening the Chinese market is a relatively safe way.

However, the U.S. cannot convince China to make any concessions. Previously, the U.S. also wanted to wield the tariff stick again against China, trying to force China to compromise through hegemonic means. However, the Trump administration feared that this would affect the already restored Sino-U.S. trade negotiations, so this plan also came to nothing.

American energy companies want to re-open the Chinese market

From the current situation, the U.S.'s bullying tactics have no effect on China. Worse for the U.S., not only has China discovered a new gas field, but it has also introduced double the amount of energy from Russia. In the short term, it has the Russian energy supply chain, and in the long term, it has its own oil and gas fields. Under these circumstances, it is difficult for the U.S. to do energy business with China, and it can be said that if China does not budge, the U.S. has no options left.

The U.S. has ended up in such a passive position due to its own choices. If the U.S. had not pushed forward the tariff policy or maliciously targeted China, China might have considered continuing to do business with the U.S. However, it is precisely the U.S.'s actions that have completely kicked itself out of the Chinese market, and now it has no way to re-open the Chinese market.

It is necessary to remind U.S. politicians that China needs a fair and stable foreign trade market, not an unstable one, and certainly not a partner who constantly uses underhanded methods. If the Trump administration does not realize this, it can only be frustrated.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7540969910055272994/

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