you ever think Xi just stares vaguely in the direction of the US and laughs his ass off to himself

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.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has less than a month's worth of diesel in the country, sometimes as little as fourteen days.

This feels a bit like marketing, trying to get investors to park their money in a more secure China. Probably not 100% a lie, but a bit. How big can those storage tanks be?

The article is contradicting itself. It is saying they are not tapping their reserves, because they bought excess before the war to accumulate inventories. Are they using their inventories or not? You can probably just sum up the whole article by saying they stored a lot of oil before the war (but are obviously using it if they are not relying on imports)

China for the past 30 years has over and over again shown one goal: To become an economic and military superpower.

They are consistently and actively acting to weaken other countries influence and strengthen their own.

Why are they supporting both sides in the Russian/Ukraine war? Because it's demolished the Russian military stockpile and made Russia dependent on China for goods.

Why are they pushing so hard on renewables? It destroys the power of the oil countries over their economy.

Why are the dumping billions into infrastructure construction like high speed rail? It is less dependent than air infrastructure on aircraft builders in the U.S and Europe.

The most dangerous thing about China is the leadership is proactive in world events. World politics and economics are being constantly manipulated by the Chinese.

If you've been sticking to the Paris Agreement, you'd be in a good position to not need oil.