US Treasury’s Bessent says China has been unreliable partner by hoarding oil during war
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that China was an unreliable global partner by hoarding oil supplies and limiting exports of some goods during the Middle East war; This reflects China’s actions regarding medical products during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bessent told reporters he had spoken to Chinese officials about the issue. He declined to answer a question about whether the dispute would derail US President Donald Trump’s plan to visit Beijing in mid-May, but said Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have a very good working relationship.
“I think the message of the visit is stability. We’ve had a great deal of stability in our relationship since last summer; it radiates from the top down,” he said. “I think communication is key.”
But Bessent held China responsible for its actions during the US-Israeli war with Iran, which raised oil prices by as much as 50 percent and triggered disruptions in the supply chain.
“China has been an unreliable global partner three times in the last five years, once during COVID when they hoarded health products, and the second on rare earth,” Bessent said, referring to Beijing’s threat last year to block rare earth exports.
He said Iran was now stockpiling more oil rather than helping ease the global demand crunch caused by its closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20% of the world’s oil.
China already had a strategic oil reserve roughly the same size as the entire reserve held by the 32-member International Energy Agency, but it continued to buy oil. “They continued to buy, hoard, and cut exports of many products,” Bessent said.
Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said the troubles in the global energy market were caused by the “tense situation in the Middle East” and called for an immediate end to military operations there.
“The immediate task is to end military operations as soon as possible and prevent the unrest in the Middle East from further affecting the global economy,” Liu said, adding that China was actively working to end the conflict and “will continue to play a constructive role.”
The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and International Energy Agency urged countries on Monday to avoid hoarding energy supplies and imposing export controls that could worsen what they called the biggest-ever shock to the global energy market. They did not specify specific countries.
The US military launched a blockade of ships leaving Iranian ports on Monday and Tehran threatened to retaliate against its Gulf neighbors’ ports after weekend talks in Islamabad to end the war collapsed. Oil prices have soared above $100 a barrel with no sign of a rapid reopening of the strait.
Bessent had previously told reporters that the blockade would ensure that no Chinese ships or anyone else would be allowed to pass through the strait. “So they won’t be able to buy their oil. They can buy oil. Not Iranian oil,” Bessent said, adding that China buys more than 90% of Iranian oil, which accounts for about 8% of its annual purchases.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Katharine Jackson and Andrea Ricci)
