On paper, it’s a perfect match: The U.S. is awash in new supplies of natural gas, while China is trying to get off coal and use cleaner-burning fuels. Plus, the U.S. Department of Energy this year has begun approving new terminals to export liquefied natural gas around the world. But a Washington trade-policy expert says the political case for U.S. exports of natural gas to China isn’t as strong as the business case. Damian Ma of the Paulson Institute says China’s fear of increasing reliance on the U.S. could trump its need for natural gas. In a paper just released by the National Bureau of Asian Research, Mr. Ma says China “has traditionally been wary of becoming overreliant on any particular country for its energy needs, believing that such dependence would allow other powers to exert leverage. Such wariness may also figure strongly in Beijing’s attitude toward receiving gas […]