China said yesterday its rapidly growing economy would rely mainly on domestic oil resources to satisfy its energy demands, refuting claims its huge appetite for oil was driving up world prices.
Speaking on the second day of the annual legislative meeting, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
"It is true China's oil imports have increased a little bit over the past one or two years. However, the total of China's oil imports only accounts for around six percent of the world's traded oil," Li told a news conference.
China was not only a big energy consumer but also one of the world's major energy producers and domestic production would play a key role in meeting the country's needs, Li noted.
China's overall crude oil imports last year rose 34.8 percent to 120 million tonnes -- the highest level in the past four years.
Li's comments appeared to contradict ongoing research.
Oil consumption in China is expected to rise sharply by 2010, with more than half of the country's demand being met through imports, Gao Shuxian, a director with the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, said last month.
China's demand for oil is expected to hit 350 million to 380 million tonnes by 2010, Gao told the Oriental Morning Post.
This means China would need 180 million to 200 million tonnes -- or more than 50 percent of its consumption -- of imported oil in five years if it was to power the factories responsible for last year's economic growth of 9.5 percent.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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