Since becoming a net oil importer in 1993, China has rapidly overtaken everyone but the US in its thirst for the world's crude. If one could quantify a country's eagerness to control this vital resource though, China would surely be number one. Aggressive investments in Africa's resource sector have led some to dub its policies there the “Great Chinese Takeout”. Its latest move, a $20bn loans-for-oil deal with Venezuela, coming on top of an existing $8bn commitment, is its largest. This follows last year's $25bn loans-for-oil deal with Russia and separate agreements for $10bn each with Brazil and Kazakhstan.
自1993年成爲石油淨進口國之後，中國對全球原油的渴求，迅速超過了除美國以外的任何國家。不過，如果能夠將一個國家對控制這種關鍵資源的渴望程度量化排序，中國無疑會拔得頭籌。中國在非洲資源領域的大舉投資，已經讓一些人將其非洲政策戲稱爲「中餐大外賣」(Great Chinese Takeout)。中國的最新舉動——在現有80億美元承諾的基礎上，再次與委內瑞拉簽署了200億美元的貸款換石油協議——是最大的一項此類行動。去年，中國與俄羅斯簽署了250億美元的貸款換石油協議，與巴西和哈薩克分別簽署了100億美元的協議。