Democracy Dies in Darkness

China’s evolution into an “electrostate” may help insulate it from spiking oil prices.

March 13, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDTYesterday at 5:00 a.m. EDT

Wind turbines dot the coastline along a giant solar farm near Weifang, eastern China. (Ng Han Guan/AP)

As the threat of strikes by Iran forces oil tankers destined for Asia to idle in the Persian Gulf, some top Republicans have declared an economic victory against a rival super power. “This is China’s nightmare,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said on Fox News this week.