China cannot escape the energy shock

能源危机冲击中国

Economist

2026-03-19

8 分钟
PDF

单集文稿 ...

  • The coastal Chinese city of Zhuhai is linked to Hong Kong by a showy piece of infrastructure:

  • a 55km (34-mile) bridge and tunnel, the largest sea crossing of its kind.

  • Some Hong Kongers use it to visit Chimelong Ocean Kingdom,

  • a theme park featuring a whale shark, rollercoasters and a hotel shaped like a spaceship.

  • Others are motorists with a more mundane purpose.

  • They travel to Zhuhai to fill up their tanks with petrol,

  • available at a big-enough discount to make the drive worthwhile.

  • The mainland's petrol-price formula smooths out the international market's ups and downs.

  • As such, it is one of the ways China's government is shielding citizens

  • from the effects of the war in Iran,

  • which has trapped oil tankers on either side of the Strait of Hormuz

  • and damaged energy infrastructure in the Gulf.

  • There are plenty more.

  • As an emergency measure, China's planning agency has banned exports of refined products

  • including petrol, diesel and jet fuel.

  • The country's small, independent "teapot" refiners, clustered in Shandong province,

  • are busy processing Iranian crude, which is still allowed to pass through the strait.

  • And if the war drags on, China may also dip into its vast strategic reserve of oil,

  • which it diligently topped up when oil prices were low last year.

  • "This is China's nightmare," said Lindsey Graham, an American senator, earlier this month.