There is no doubt that China wants to subjugate Asia, echoing Japan's role during World War II.  For those who think China's economy might overtake the United States economy, and thus make China a more formidable adversary, this article aims to provide detail on China's main constraint in that ambition: that its domestic coal production is near its peak and will then go into long-term decline. Even if China can keep its energy supply constant with an accelerated expansion of its nuclear power sector, the cost of producing coal from deeper mines will mean that the costs of industrial production will rise due to higher feedstock costs.  One of the reasons that China produces the world's cheapest solar panels, for example, is because it has some of the world's cheapest coal-fired power.  German solar panel-producers are hobbled by that country's energiewende, which, translated from the German, means the miracle required to replace coal and...(Read Full Post)