I deal in energy for the same reason I would have otherwise gone into medicine. Because, like healthcare, people will go without a lot of other extras before sacrificing electricity, fuel, transportation, heat/ac, etc. Nations are no different. As I have said many times, the history of 20th Century warfare has been inextricably intertwined with the drive for finding and securing sources of energy.
When he became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911 Winston Churchill led the transitioning of the Royal Navy from coal-fired to fuel-burning ships of the line; suddenly the need to secure sources of oil far from the British Isles led to Great Britain’s wider presence on the high seas…something that did not go unnoticed by the Kaiser in Germany, helping push the two powers into a disastrous conflict. In 1941, Japan, suffering under the crippling impact of a US oil embargo, decided they had no choice but to invade the oil-rich Dutch East Indies—but to do so unmolested they also had to take out the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and capture our military bases in the Philippines, the latter of which stood astride the shipping lanes. And so the USA was plunged into a world war. In 1942, Hitler sent his powerful Army Group South onto the steppes of Southern Russia and into the Caucasus region in a drive to capture its petroleum facilities…he would lose an entire army, and with it the war, in the burning rubble of Stalingrad.
As I wrote in the Daily Wire a while back, China is now the latest player on the find-the-energy game board. But unlike the myopic Tojo, or megalomaniacal Hitler, Xi Jinping is no fool. One must assume that he has studied the past and considered how best to address China’s Achilles heel, which is a lack of proven energy reserves within its borders, unlike its arch-rival the United States. So, while we debate pronouns at home while 20 years of blood and treasure are squandered in pointless nation-building folly abroad, China has been slowly, quietly, establishing a presence in Africa and the region of the Indian Ocean.
According to the IEA’s Africa Energy Outlook, Africa’s share in the global energy mix is set to soar from 5 per cent today to 25 percent by 2040. Over 40 per cent of global gas discoveries from 2011 to 2018 have been in Africa. Chinese investments and contracts in sub-Saharan Africa totaled $299 billion from 2005 to 2018, according to the China Investment Global Tracker. And in 2018, Chinese president Xi Jinping vowed to invest a further $60 billion into African nations.
But once you have a foothold in the next energy revolution, how best to secure it? That is the next step. Which is why, with very little media coverage, U.S. officials reported that Beijing is actively seeking a permanent naval base on the west coast of Africa. They could be eyeing Equatorial Guinea’s port city of Bata for the base. The report said Bata already comes with a deep-water port that had been upgraded by China Road & Bridge Co. from 2009 to 2014. It makes sense. With so much capital poured into such a tumultuous part of the globe, China would want a hands-on military presence in the region to secure its investments.
But there is a deeper, more ominous take-away from such a venture should it come to pass. Since the turn of the last century the Atlantic has been within the United States’ sphere of influence. The idea of a rival naval base right on the other side of “the pond” is disconcerting and destabilizing. Tensions between the U.S. and Communist China are only going to intensify in the next few years as the Chinese achieve economic and military parity.
Indeed, if ever there was a time for Beijing to flex its muscle it is now. The United States has probably never been this lacking in resolve since the fall of Saigon in 1975. China watches with glee as we are humiliated in Afghanistan, our streets burn, our military concentrates on racial theory and gender fluidity rather than waging violence on our behalf, our government from D.C. to the state capitals seems unable to come up with a coherent or proportional response to the Covid epidemic (of Chinese origin), the lower and middle classes reel from skyrocketing inflation, which will only be fueled by a budget-obliteration, dollar crushing “Build Back Better” print-and-spend orgy never before seen in the annals of governance. And all of this while being supervised (in theory at least) by an enfeebled, mentally failing, near octogenarian who is clearly just a puppet dangling on the string of lobbyists, left-wing activists, and cynical party bosses. What better time to flex Chinese muscle than now? (Fine, let the U.S. fixate on Putin and far-away Ukraine if they like. All the better.)
China has always had its eyes on expanding its presence in the Western Pacific and in the process absorbing free Taiwan as it has Hong Kong. But its latest machinations across the Atlantic from our own shores represent a quantum leap in Chinese hegemony. The United States has already ceded manufacturing, rare earth, and other industries vital to not just economic prowess and diversity but national security to Chinese control. Now the Biden administration seems hell-bent on rolling back our ace in the hole, energy independence and export capacity. Had they searched far and wide for a Manchurian Candidate to do their bidding, the CCP could not have done better than the stupefied Joe Biden at the titular helm of their adversary’s floundering ship of state. No wonder they have chosen this moment to move to secure their Atlantic flank and further box us in. What is the Biden administration going to do about it? Do Americans want to see their children die in yet another overseas war run by incompetents who are never held responsible for their actions? Ask the Taliban.
All is not lost though. The Biden administration has shown some backbone as of late by barring U.S. diplomats from attending the Beijing Olympics. Ouch! After all, what good is it to Xi as he works diligently to tip the scales in not just the Pacific but the Atlantic as well in his quest to make the 21st Century the Chinese Century when in the process he loses his chance to have a photo op with Pete Buttigieg?
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader and author whose eclectic body of works have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, NY Daily News, National Review, The Federalist. The Blaze, and Zerohedge among others. His latest novel, The Extraordinary, tells the story of a family dealing with a Marine veteran’s PTSD as told through the words of his autistic teenaged son.