China’s great energy pivot

A file picture of photovoltaic solar panels, which convert sunlight directly into electricity, in Qinghai Province, China. The energy shock caused by the Middle East conflict caught China, the world’s top buyer of oil, by surprise – but Beijing has been preparing for a crisis like this for years. — The New York Times

THE energy shock caused by the conflict in the Middle East caught China, the world’s top buyer of oil, by surprise. But Beijing had been preparing for a crisis like this for years.

China stockpiled increasingly large amounts of oil. It pursued renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind and hydropower so aggressively that its demand for refined oil, diesel and gasoline has fallen.