Beijing just discovered it cannot fight, or even wait, without American permission. While China rations its future, the United States is securing the world’s oil on its own terms.

Beijing just discovered it cannot fight, or even wait, without American permission. While China rations its future, the United States is securing the world’s oil on its own terms.

The numbers are brutal and unforgiving. China imports between 11 million and 12.5 million barrels of crude every single day. Between 40 and 50 percent of that supply must thread the narrow needle of the Strait of Hormuz. Total consumption, including refined products, runs 15 million barrels daily. Even after years of frantic stockpiling, Beijing’s combined strategic and commercial reserves sit at roughly 1.1 to 1.4 billion barrels, 90 to 120 days of cover at current burn rates.

Ninety days. Coincidentally, or maybe not, that's the exact timeframe a U.S. President has via a War Powers Resolution before Congress must approve an extension.

That clock started ticking on February 28 when strikes on Iran turned the Strait into contested waters. Public trackers show no formal blockade, but that doesn't matter as the insurance market collapsed, carriers have fled, and tanker traffic has halted. Days later in the Mediterranean, a Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier mysteriously exploded and sank from an unknown assailant. Today, LNG........

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