ABSTRACT
The Chinese approach to investing in oil and natural gas in the world economy is to realize that oil is a strategic resource that is the object of great power rivalry. A key factor for Chinese success in securing oil resources overseas is to exclude competitors’ interference in those resources. 1 One strategy for doing so would be to bring those resources within a Sino-centric order. Another of China’s overseas oil investment strategies has been to find its niche within the world oil economy by investing in those countries considered rogue states, that is, violators of human security; countries that the oil majors and other national oil corporations have not been allowed to invest in because of their pariah status. The two strategies are not mutually exclusive; rogue states Myanmar and Uzbekistan appear to be moving into a Sino-centric order. Chinese behavior has generated international criticism since it is assumed that neither China nor the host producing country have made human security a priority, and in general there are few human security-related norms governing oil investment in developing countries.
