Dear friend Ashutosh�alerted me to this snippet. Here are his�accompanying comments:�

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Just to give you some more factoids about the geo-politics of energy between China and Japan. Expect this to become a full blown international issue in another year or two. Already there have been allegations and counter allegations of navies breaching territorial waters (Chinese Navy acting as oil field surveyors in disguise) but it brings to more sharper focus rationale for a India-Japan energy alliance (far more strategic in importance in my view than the India-US nuclear alliance). Also remember this is CNOOC � the same company which when it made a play for Unocal the big US oil company that the US raised howls of protest under the garb of energy security as if it were a bigger threat than Saudi Aramco. It may not be now but CNOOC needs more analyst attention than any of the Middle Eastern Oil majors and for once the US got diagnosed the symptoms right but the treatment went all wrong.�