The crude stockpiles held by the country’s state-owned energy companies remain nearly full. Beijing appears not to have tapped its vast strategic reserves, and storage tanks at Chinese refineries are brimming with petrol, diesel and other refined products.
China was able to reduce imports so sharply in part because it had been buying more oil than it needed before the war. For years, it accumulated inventories whenever prices were low as part of a broader push to strengthen national self-reliance and improve its ability to withstand supply disruptions.
This is what happens when you have one side that sits back and plays some machiavellian chess, and another side that shits on a checker board and makes everyone roll around in it.
China is far from an honest actor, so don’t think I’m saying this as a compliment. But China knows when to shut up, sit back, and let the other guy fuck themselves over.
“Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself.”