Introduction: Mr. Wang Dinggang (王定刚) is an anti-CCP media influencer within the Chinese diaspora community. He has sources inside China and his content frequently focuses on analyzing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), international politics, and Chinese communist strategy. This interview with Mr. Wang (a.k.a, Lude) took place on 5 June 2026.
Special note: While mainstream media sources claim that Chinese oil imports have fallen to 7.8 million barrels of oil per day, Mr. Wang says China is daily pulling 10 million barrels of oil out of the Persian Gulf (in addition to Russian and African sources). He alleges the existence of a secret pipeline from Iran leading into Iraq. Mainstream analysts will probably dismiss what Mr. Wang says here, alleging that China is making up its oil shortfall by drawing 4-5 million barrels per day from a stockpile of approximately 1.2 billion barrels. Looking closer at the math, China is the second-largest consumer of oil in the world, using approximately 16.5 million barrels of oil per day, with 4.1 million to 4.7 million coming from China’s domestic oil fields. China therefore must import approximately 12 billion barrels of oil per day. In this interview Mr. Wang explains how China’s oil reserve actually works and how China has access to more oil, and cheaper oil, than anyone realizes.
JRN: What is the actual situation in China? We have heard that Xi Jinping is engaged in a struggle with certain generals. Is this true?
LUDE: This is all according to CCP official statements. Many things in China are information warfare, so if we cannot verify these stories independently, we do not know what to think. It seems that Xi is preparing for a large-scale battle with the United States, so that all of this is a smokescreen. The main point is don’t get fooled by these stories from inside China. There is this figure, Yao Cheng, who claimed to be a dissident. He spread many of these stories. Many people interviewed and credited him; but he went back to China recently. This shows that he was a mouthpiece of the regime, since no one hostile to the regime can safely return to China. This Yao Cheng even claimed to have been arrested by Chinese authorities. When he left China he claimed it was too dangerous too return. He brought out much of this questionable information, then he suddenly went back to China and said, ‘China is much better. The U.S. is the problem.’ So he should not be trusted as a source. This is just one example of information warfare techniques. I also recognize this as a fake deception because he was someone who claimed my 57-minute tape of the Guangdong civil-military meeting was a fake. He also claimed that the submarine accident I reported was a fake as well. But even the Times has reported that my information was correct.
JRN: I have seen satellite photos of a new type of Chinese submarine. It is 360 feet long, no conning tower, and has a new type of propulsion system. Do you have any information on this submarine?
LUDE: This new propulsion system is something I mentioned in one of my broadcasts. They have a shaftless pump system. I believe this is an immature system and does not function as well as U.S. systems. Whether it works as they hoped, I have my doubts.
JRN: Is this a ballistic missile submarine or an attack submarine?
LUDE: An attack submarine.
JRN: What is the status of the Chinese Petroleum reserve of 1.2 billion barrels. Stories have appeared recently from Chinese sources claiming that the Chinese premier conducted a surprise inspection of the reserve and found it contained water and sludge. Is this a false report or authentic?
LUDE: I believe this is a rumor. This number is too big for their reserve. The oil reserve in the CCP is dispersed and kept safe on China’s shadow tanker fleet. It is on the sea and difficult to detect and monitor, and they can get benefits from that. I do not believe this rumor is true.
JRN: This fleet must be very big to hold China’s oil reserves.
LUDE: The number of shadow fleet ships is 4,000 ships, with many being tankers of various sizes, the largest having a 2 million barrel carrying capacity. This kind of oil reserve is very hard to target in wartime.
JRN: This sounds like an ingenious method to protect the Chinese oil reserves against strikes from drones, such as those launched by Ukraine against Russia’s oil storage areas and refineries.
LUDE: That number of 4,000 ships in the shadow fleet is current, and those tankers can easily transfer their oil when needed. Also, they can use these tankers to control the international oil price. They are trying to build this fleet to 6,000 ships. The oil reserve on the sea is a key strategy in China maintaining its lifeline. In peaceful time, this can contribute to China’s unrestricted warfare in manipulating oil prices.
JRN: Is China receiving oil from Venezuela? And how much oil is coming from Iran presently? There are stories that Chinese tankers have been allowed to load up with oil in the Persian Gulf. With Russia’s oil system under attack, has China been receiving shipments from Russia?
LUDE: Russian oil is flowing overland to China by train and pipeline. It is hard to get oil by sea from Russia at present.
JRN: Of course, China is getting some from Russia by pipeline, but this cannot amount to much. Russia has built extra-large oil cars for trains, of course, but again, this is only a trickle compared to the 12 plus million barrels a day that China needs for its imports. If China has shadow fleet tankers at sea, flagged to various countries, where are they loading up with this large stockpile of oil? They must have a shortfall somewhere.
LUDE: You are right, the pipeline transportation from Russia is inadequate, and the train transport is small. But there is one loophole in the Persian Gulf blockade, since China can get oil from Kuwait and Iraq. They have a free port there and Chinese shadow tankers can load 10 million barrels per day from three ports. The CCP is also building a new port in Kuwait with a 4 million barrel capacity. These ports have a secret pipeline directly connected to Iran. So if you take the Iranian island of Kharg, this will not block Iranian exports.
JRN: Is the U.S. Navy aware of the fact they are allowing Chinese tankers loaded with Iranian oil through the blockade? This is very troubling, if true.
LUDE: The current blockade is blocking ships that load oil from Iranian ports directly. If the ships are from Kuwait and Iraq they are not blocked. This is where the problem lies.
JRN: So, the Chinese and Iranians are getting past the blockade and shipping Iranian oil to China under the nose of the American fleet. This is quite incredible.
LUDE: This is what you might call an “open secret.” Many people know about this. China was getting oil this way from Iran before the war.
JRN: And the Americans are completely fooled by this?
LUDE: Of course, I do not know whether U.S. intelligence knows about this or not. The mainstream media never mentions this. The general public knows nothing.
JRN: Are American officials allowing Chinese oil to secretly transit the blockade because we do not want trouble with China?
LUDE: This is not because of appeasement. The money involved is huge and there is underground money, laundered money, and bitcoin, and if you send someone to investigate they can offer you 50,000 barrels and it is impossible to trace this. So this would be a lot of money. Kuwait and Iraq are allies of the United States and so you need really hard evidence to shut down their ports to Chinese ships. Unless there is a high-level investigation pushed by the White House, nothing is going to get exposed.
JRN: So, the Iranians know not to attack the Chinese tankers?
LUDE: They are on the same side as China and will not fire on them, of course.
JRN: I conducted a brief study on Chinese infrastructure projects in Mexico. I was shocked at the scale of construction projects underway. Then there is Chinese involvement with the cartels in Mexico. Something is going on. They are building up port capacity and rail lines. They say it is to bypass the Panama Canal, but I am skeptical. I suspect China is building Mexico into a giant logistical support base for Chinese military operations in the Western Hemisphere. Am I paranoid to think this way?
LUDE: You are 100 percent right on this. Your concern is right. I know the CCP has a big involvement with the Sinaloa Cartel and they are building their relationship with a new cartel. It is a guerrilla warfare base and more. Your concern is legitimate.
JRN: We see a Russian buildup against Japan which recently caused Japan to shift forces to Hokkaido. Is China preparing any moves against Japan or South Korea? You mentioned China’s preparations for a war against the United States. How does China intend to deal with Japan and South Korea as war approaches?
LUDE: The Far East is the next theater to erupt after Iran. Russia is positioning forces to apply border pressure on Japan. China is doing the same thing. Northeast Asia is going to become a hotspot. This is not just aimed at Japan. Because this is a hotspot, Russia and China will apply this pressure after Iran settles down. Japan, Russia, and China have a core interest in Northeast Asia. They all have interests there. It is like the Middle East in terms of conflict potential.
JRN: What is the reason for threatening Japan? Are they trying to force Japan to abandon its alliance with the United States?
LUDE: Japan is a very important country. If you control Japan, you have control of South Korea. If you control Japan, you have access to advanced technology. Japan is America’s most important ally in Asia.
JRN: We see how important drones have become in destroying oil infrastructure and stopping tanker traffic. President Trump has recently said that Cuba is next on his list. We recently received reports of at least 300 Russian drones are in Cuba. Is China also sending drones to Cuba, possibly to block U.S. oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico? And is China providing military assistance to other countries?
LUDE: Yes, they are sending drones and sea mines, missiles, and more. Cuba is like Iran for China. There are two passages around Cuba, into the Gulf of Mexico. It would be relatively easy for Chinese drones to close off these shipping lanes to block off the U.S. Gulf Coast.
JRN: China has built these mobile port-ships or mulberries for landing vehicles in an overseas invasion. Do you know what the status of these ships are at present?
LUDE: These temporary ports are not a big deal for China. This is piece of cake for them, while nuclear submarines are more difficult.
JRN: You mentioned the Iran war winding down in the near future. How does China think the war will end? Do they have a plan?
LUDE: How the war ends does not matter to the CCP. Their primary interest is to infiltrate the new regime [after the death of many top leaders]. What happens on the fourth day of the war, if Chinese agents get control over the IRCG, then China wins the conflict. If there is a regime change, the new leaders, whatever their situation, will be targeted by Chinese intelligence infiltrators.
JRN: When 47 Iranian leaders were killed, I assume some of these leaders were already Chinese leaders. So China must make sure new agents are moved to the top leadership positions, right?
LUDE: Yes, China can always rebuild its position within Iran. As long as the CCP still has money and power, they can infiltrate wherever they see fit.
JRN: Is China resupplying Iran at present? Are they giving Iran a lot of weapons?
LUDE: China can send supplies to Iran by land since large-scale transportation into Iran is very hard by sea.
JRN: Can’t they use trains or large trucks through Central Asia?
LUDE: Pakistan is a possible route that cannot be blocked. Turkmenistan has a channel, but these channels are not as safe as Pakistan for moving weapon systems. China does not trust Turkmenistan as much as Pakistan.
JRN: It looks like China is building up against India, with significant infrastructure being built in the Himalayan Mountains. Can you comment on this?
LUDE: One of the reasons for China’s continuous construction is to protect Chinese missile launchers in Xinjiang and the Western desert bases. This is a strategically sensitive area. This buildup is more defensive, I think. It is protection of a very sensitive strategic military assets in Xinjiang.
JRN: So China is afraid of India?
LUDE: They are not afraid of India. They are interested in expanding into Southeast Asia and other regions. If you want to talk about the expansion of Asia, they will go to Laos and islands claimed by Japan, like Senkaku and Okinowa. India is totally different. They cannot brainwash or manage the Indian people.
JRN: How do the Chinese communists see the Ukraine War? You mentioned earlier that the war was a five-year-long laboratory for developing new weapons and military doctrines. Do you still hold to this? It appears that Ukraine is winning the war now. Have you revised your previous view?
LUDE: If you are looking back, the Ukraine War started in 2022, so it is now almost five years. This conflict is a low-level combat. There is not much training going on there. China is switching their focus to the Iran battle. They are constantly using every war to find strategies that will allow them to defeat the Americans.
JRN: What kind of objectives must China achieve before the CCP can confront the United States and defeat it as a leading power?
LUDE: This is an ongoing process. This is not just about military power. They want to defeat the U.S. dollar system, which is what is being weakened by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz today. The U.S. has to be weakened in order for the CCP to prevail.
JRN: Is the CCP leadership disgusted with Russia for failing in the Ukraine War?
LUDE: Yes, and you should remember that Xi talked about this. China blames Russia for not following the CCP way of attacking.
JRN: How do the CCP leaders see the Ukraine War ending?
LUDE: The CCP interest is in not ending this war. They want this war to continue because it will divert the U.S. and Europe’s attention away from themselves. What they want is Russia to attack the Baltic countries, Poland, or other NATO countries. They want the U.S. tied down in Europe as well as the Middle East.
JRN: I assume they want this because they have aggressive plans of their own.
LUDE: Yes, yes. They want the U.S. to be stuck in long-running wars in Europe and the Persian Gulf. They do not want to the war to spill over to other gulf countries. That would be against their interest.
JRN: Because they are getting oil from those countries?
LUDE: Yes. Iran is a little different from Russia. The Iran war is more global. China has proxies there and in other places. The CCP wants to set a trap there. They want the U.S. stuck or trapped there. China can always manage to get oil as America bleeds its resources.
JRN: When was this secret pipeline from Iran through Iraq built?
LUDE: Did you know that some oil wells in Iraq are controlled by the CCP?
JRN: I did not know that.
LUDE: There is a sub-company of a PLA company, called Zhenhua Oil Company. Iraq has an oil export committee that is controlled by the CCP.
JRN: Controlled by Chinese agents?
LUDE: This is a public secret. A lot of people know this. Iraq’s largest oil fields are controlled by the CCP. After the Iraq War American oil companies did not get in. Chinese oil companies got it. This is not a secret.
JRN: China controls all the Iraqi oil fields?
LUDE: Several of the biggest ones.
JRN: And this Chinese company operates in Iran, as well, I suppose?
LUDE: The Iranian regime is stronger, so they control their own oil fields. Iraq’s government is weaker and easier to corrupt.
JRN: These points are seldom notice in our media. This has been a thought-provoking interview. These are all my questions for now. Thank you.
LUDE: Thank you.
END
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