China will look to create alternative fuel and energy infrastructure as the war in Iran has disrupted the country’s oil and gas supply and harmed its economic activity.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that Beijing needs to accelerate planning and construction of a new system to ensure the country’s energy security amid rising fuel prices due to the West Asia crisis.
In latest remarks published on Monday night, Xi, leader of the world’s second-largest economy, stressed the importance of developing “China’s hydropower, with safe expansion of nuclear power.”
He said China will in future decrease dependency on fossil fuels and petroleum products and switch to more reliable and better alternatives that are immune to global disruptions in the near future.
Right now, according to varied estimates, China imports around 40-50 per cent of its energy needs from Russia, Iran and other Gulf countries.
However, the disruption caused in the system by the US-Israel war on Iran is hampering supplies and forcing Beijing to switch to alternatives quickly.
“The [Communist] Party Central Committee has gained a profound grasp of global energy development trends and made major decisions by advancing the new energy security strategy in depth,” Xi was quoted as saying.
Xi, while speaking to the media, did not directly mention the ongoing war in Iran, while Beijing and Moscow diplomats had discussed the situation in the Middle East a day earlier.
The global energy shocks have forced countries like India, South Korea and Japan to cap or limit the usage of LPG and petroleum products.
The rising prices and soaring inflation are putting extra burden on both developed and developing economies in Asia.
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