ABSTRACT
The cover of a recent issue of the Economist showed caricatures of the United States and China under the headline, ‘the oilaholics’. While the view that the US and China are in direct competition for scarce energy resources in the region is popular in non-official circles, it does not represent the major concerns of the US government. This chapter will argue that for the US, energy security issues in the Asia-Pacific are less concerned with where pipelines are built or the emergence of competition over energy resources, than with the management of energy needs and issues in the context of Washington’s wider strategic approach to the region. Fundamentally, energy security issues in the Asia-Pacific do not play a major role in US policy and are only considered within a broader geopolitical, strategic framework.
