Originally Posted by
RippinClapBombs
Well the assumption Iran’s largest buyer, China at 40%, had not prepared for such a scenario is laughable. They’ve spent the last decade focusing on energy independence by aggressively building oil storage and production capabilities. China “only has three months of oil reserves” is propaganda. Claiming 20% of the world’s oil supply flows through the Strait of Hormuz is technically propaganda—there’s plenty of available untapped supply. Iran was nothing more than sanctioned oil at a steep discount for the Chinese. This idea that the largest consumers of oil have not invested heavily in energy independence by sitting on untapped domestic oil supply is laughable as well.
I think most of this is absolutely right on. But China has also done a lot more than we have to get itself less dependent on oil. They've heavily subsidized electric, wind, and solar. I was just in PVG a few months back and Guangzhou before that...BYD (colossal Chinese electric car maker) has practically conquered the market with cars that put Teslas to shame. And in the countries where you can buy Chinese EVs, they have absolutely dominated. And they're really well made cars, too. I wish they were just cheap pieces of &&&& so I could feel better about US manufacturing capabilities, but Chinese automakers have advanced in leaps and bounds.
Unlike in the US, the Chinese take a remarkably practical view of energy. They don't code gasoline as "conservative" and electric/ wind/ solar as "liberal" like we do. The last time I checked, energy sources don't have political allegiances, so precisely why we in the US have this distorted view is beyond me.