Oil, Asia, and U.S. foreign and security policy

This chapter addresses the intersection of oil, Asia, and U.S. foreign and security policy. It is the Middle East, not Asia, where oil plays a defi ning role in shaping U.S. foreign policy. Nevertheless, oil infl uences U.S. policy in Asia along multiple dimensions that involve both its allies and competitors, specifi cally China. The U.S. ability to protect the fl ow of oil from the Persian Gulf to Asia is an important component of its commitment to regional allies and friends, as well as to the global economy more broadly. In addition, the possibility of large oil and gas reserves in the East China Sea and South China Sea is intertwined with maritime disputes that involve U.S. allies. Over the past decade, tensions involving these disputes have grown, which have in turn increased the complexity of U.S. alliance commitments and increased the possibility of confl ict with China. Oil infl uences U.S. relations with China via other paths as well. On the one hand, U.S. protection of the fl ow of Persian Gulf oil is a public good that benefi ts China. On the other hand, the U.S. ability to interrupt the fl ow of oil to China provides the United States with a potentially powerful source of coercive leverage in a severe crisis or war. China’s vulnerability to a U.S imposed disruption of the fl ow of oil, in turn, contributes to military competition with the United States.