82%.  

…is the portion of Chinese maritime oil imports that passes through the Malacca Strait.  Do you kinda, sorta know where that is?  I dare you to try to keep your eyebrows from rising when you check the map below.

Yes, they are adding lots of pipeline capacity.  Yes, China also invested $110b in clean tech last year.  But even setting aside politics and pirates, there is the simple matter of size: the strait is just 1.7 miles wide, and just 82 feet deep.

I am learning about this and so much more in This Brave New World by the terrific Anja Manuel, who manages to be serious and hopeful simultaneously – a combination I deeply admire.

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* Map source: US Dept of Defense, via (yes) Wikipedia