Kuala Lampur, March 29 -- The world is once again confronting a harsh and familiar truth: when the Gulf trembles, the global economy shudders.

The recent escalation of attacks on energy infrastructure across the Arabian Gulf - targeting liquefied natural gas facilities in Qatar and oil installations in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait - has exposed not only the fragility of global energy markets, but also the deep structural dependence that binds East Asia to this volatile region.

While major economies have responded by releasing hundreds of millions of barrels from strategic reserves, such measures - however historic - are ultimately palliative. They buy time.

They do not solve the problem. The deeper reality is far more unsettling: Gulf oil c...