Chinese State Media: Conditional Participation Required for US Strategic Oil Reserve Release Request

Biden's Desperate Measure to Control Inflation... Must Correct the Contradictory Attitude of Suppressing While Requesting
High Oil Prices Burden China's Economy, but Decision on Strategic Oil Release Should Be Careful

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] Chinese media have argued that the Chinese government should participate conditionally in the U.S. government's request to join the release of strategic oil reserves. Since the release of reserves is a desperate measure by the Biden administration to curb soaring U.S. inflation, the U.S. side must show sincerity for the improvement of China-U.S. relations.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The state-run Global Times reported that U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the release of 50 million barrels of strategic oil reserves on the 23rd (local time). It also reported that the White House announced that China, South Korea, India, and Japan agreed to participate in order to lower international oil prices.

Regarding this, the Global Times reported that the Chinese government has not made an official announcement on whether it will release strategic oil reserves.

The Global Times analyzed that the U.S. request for China to join the release indicates that President Biden’s political position is unstable, and since international oil prices also affect the Chinese economy, China needs to consider this as well.

Li Haidong, director of the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, said, "The oil price issue cannot be solved by the U.S. alone," adding, "The U.S. is caught in a dilemma where it has no choice but to cooperate with China."

The Global Times, citing experts, emphasized that while the drop in international oil prices positively affects the Chinese economy and the Chinese government may accept the U.S. request, there is no need to blindly follow the U.S. request.

Huo Jianguo, a member of the China World Trade Organization Society, said, "The release issue could be a case where China and the U.S. cooperate, and if international oil prices fall, it benefits Chinese companies," but added that China needs to consider China-U.S. relations and China’s economic interests.

There are also forecasts that China’s release of strategic oil reserves will be limited.

Lu Xiang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, predicted, "China’s release of strategic oil reserves can help the U.S., but China’s reserves only last a few months, so the amount released will be very limited."

Lin Bochong, director of the Energy Economics Research Center at Xiamen University, said, "A cautious attitude should be taken toward the release of strategic oil reserves," expressing concern that "China’s reserves are not as large as the U.S., and it is difficult to be certain whether major oil-consuming countries can truly agree on a joint release that has never happened before."

Dong Shaofeng, senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University, argued, "The U.S. must change its contradictory attitude of requesting help from China while simultaneously suppressing it," and insisted, "The U.S. should increase its understanding of other countries and adopt a pragmatic attitude of cooperating with other nations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.