CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VIII (2) ContEurVIII2 | Page 78

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VIII (2)
Table 5.2:
China’s crude oil imports (%) by region from 1995 to 2003
Regions
Middle East 1995
45.4 2000
53.6 2003
51.3
Africa
Asia-Pacific
CIS (Russia and Kazakhstan)
Europe
South America 10.8
42.3
0.2
2.1
0 24.0
15.0
3.1
3.6
0 24.4
15.3
7.2
1.8
0.4
Since the mid-1990s, China together with its growing oil imports
from the Middle East, adopted a special policy towards the region.
Moreover, Beijing was implementing more active oil diplomacy in the
Middle East in order to target the key oil producers (See Table 5.3). 35
Table 5.3:
China’s crude oil imports (%) by country from 1995 to 2003. The top
suppliers are the Gulf states.
Country
Saudi Arabia
Iran
Oman
Angola
Yemen
Sudan
Congo
Russia
Kazakhstan
Vietnam
Indonesia
Malaysia
Australia
Brunei
Norway
1995
2
5.4
21.4
5.9
14.5
0
0.1
0.2
0
4.4
30.9
3.5
0.4
0
0
2000
8.2
10.0
22.3
12.3
5.1
4.7
2.1
2.1
1.0
4.5
6.5
1.1
1.6
0.4
2.1
2003
16.8
13.8
10.3
11.2
7.8
6.9
4.1
5.8
1.3
3.9
3.7
2.2
2.0
1.7
1.1
Rank, 2003
1
2
4
3
5
6
8
7
14
9
10
11
12
13
15
China’s oil diplomacy was largely concentrated on the Middle
East. The Gulf oil exporters were of great significance for Beijing in
respect of its gradually growing economic and energy needs. As the
statistics show, Beijing’s overall crude oil imports merely from the

35
Ibid, 523.
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