MD wrote:Yep it has been amazing to watch that develop over the last decade or two. China has allegedly leap-frogged the west in certain areas, but in this regard I think they missed a real opportunity.
The Chinese are screwed just as badly as North America. Because with peak oil, they will also suffer the same economic consequences as us (the USA and Canada). They are becoming too reliant on oil that they will suffer as much as everyone else who's dependent on oil.
By the way, there is no way in hell we can meet the demand for Chinese oil consumption. There is simply not enough oil to meet the USA's demand for oil--let alone adding another major consumer of oil. By 2015, it is estimated that China will consume 15 million barrels of oil a day...a 6 million barrel increase from 2009. Where is that 6 million barrels of oil going to come from? You can't get it from anywhere that is the answer.
China's economy will probably collapse even harder than the USA's because the population is just so damn big. What would happen when everyone looses their jobs when USA companies stop buying goods from them? I'm lucky I don't live in China, and that I live in Canada. Canada is probably one of the better places to be when peak oil happens.