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India-China energy partnership favorable for Asia
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-03 09:06 Cooperation between the two Asian giants in securing energy supplies can only
be favorable for Southeast Asia, said Hugh White, a professor of strategic
studies at the Australian National University in Canberra.
"Obviously for both countries, the search for energy security is going to be
one of the key drivers for their strategic policies," White told AFP.
"If that search for energy security is mishandled, it could lead to
significant insecurity and it is particularly important for Southeast Asia.
"It is the part of the world in which the spheres of interest of the two
countries most naturally overlap and is also potentially a significant source of
energy itself," he said, adding that Southeast Asia is also a crucial transit
area for oil shipments.
The narrow 960-kilometre-long (600-mile) Malacca Strait in Southeast Asian
waters is one of the world's busiest trading routes, used by about 50,000 ships
a year carrying a third of global trade and half its oil supplies.
At least 75 percent of China's oil imports pass through the Malacca Strait
before reaching Chinese shores and Beijing has been building up its naval forces
to protect its oil supply routes, analysts said.
The Asian Development Bank said last month that China and India will carry
the region's economic growth rates over the next two years.
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