Factors Influencing China’s Oil Diplomacy In The Middle East

Even though China extracts oil more than any other country in the Asia-Pacific region,the country is still extremely dependent on imports,and this dependence increases with each passing year.Recent years,the need for import of oil in China had risen from 35% in 2000 to 70% in 2016.Thus,the explored reserves of oil make up only 33.3 billion tons,which is about 1.5% of global oil reserves.Today,the People’s Republic of China mainly buys crude oil in the Middle East and political change in the region directly influence on Chinese foreign policy.In this study,four important factors that influence on china oil diplomacy in the Middle east are examined.accordingly,The Arab spring events,OPEC,overall China foreign policies and strategies,and influence of US in the region have direct or indirect effects on china Oil diplomacy.China historical reaction to these factors is remarkable and made its energy security strategies in the Middle east.As a result of the study,it was found that the events of the Arab Spring hurt the results of China’s oil diplomacy with the middle East countries.The developments taking place in the Middle East from the beginning of the Arab Spring have led to an increase in world oil prices.For China,this meant higher import bills and a reduction in the trade surplus,as well as slower economic growth,as the contribution of net exports decreased.OPEC market controlling strategies lets China thinks to other Oil producers and oil exports from the Middle East reduced in front of increasing imports from other regions.US as hegemon of the region somehow made tight pressure on China alliance specially after making sanction on Iran due to its nuclear programs.During trade war between two countries,the influence of US on china oil diplomacy more appeared.