SINGAPORE — The prospect of continuing Mideast political instability is widely portrayed as a geostrategic problem for the West, particularly the United States. For years, the U.S. has worked with a de facto coalition of authoritarian Arab regimes to contain Iran and protect Israel. The "people power" protests in Tunisia, Egypt and other parts of the region challenge this arrangement.
But the rippling unrest and uncertainty in the Middle East also expose the heavy dependence of China, Japan, India, South Korea and other leading Asian economies on the flow of oil from the volatile Persian Gulf. After 30 years in power, the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last Friday, following 18 days of street protests, has done little to reduce fears that tensions in the Middle East will help keep oil prices high and may lead to disruption of key oil-supply routes.
The narrow Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman is the only way into and out of the gulf by sea. It is ranked by the U.S. energy department as "the world's most important oil choke point." The average daily oil flow through this strait, which Iran has threatened to close if its nuclear facilities are attacked, was 15.5 million barrels in 2009, approximately one-third of world trade in seaborne oil.