As China’s economy grows ferociously, so does its energy consumption. In China, rate of increase in oil demand continues to outstrip its production – a net oil importer since 1993, China produces less than half the nearly 7 million barrels per day it consumes – mostly from Middle Eastern, African, and Asian sources. The Economist’s “Growing Energy Nexus” story in its April 10th issue describes China’s ten year plan for meeting its energy demand: understanding that the Middle East is an unstable and highly competitive supplier, since President Hu’s economic tour in 2004, China has begun to invest, through its two pseudo-public major oil firms, in Latin American energy companies through direct shareholding, infrastructure development, technical assistance, and joint ventures. However, the distance between China and Latin America makes the supply route slow and insecure, Latin American supply is currently a tiny fraction of China’s oil imports, and China is hesitant to upset either US-Latin American economic and security arrangements or relations with its current European corporate suppliers, all of which complicate China’s Latin American strategy and challenge its development efforts with limits on scope.