Abstract
Common wisdom appears to suggest that the rise of China and her apparently insatiable demand for oil poses a threat to the regional stability of South East Asia and raises the spectre of direct confrontation between China and the US. This paper examines whether this threat perception is justified and concludes largely that it is not. These findings do not however predispose that instability in South East Asia or conflict between China and the US will not occur: merely that the primary cause will not be China’s demand for oil.