Is seems we are running out of breathable air faster than petrol. :)

China became a net importer of oil in the 90s, and the negative externalities of petroleum production would naturally induce them to focus on demand reduction to alleviate that dependency. They also travel far and wide to drill (just as the U.S. does).

Is that "petro-politics", environmentalism, or rational energy policy?

If China had the same petrol car ownership as the USA, they would need more than 100 million barrels a day just for the Chinese car owners. Given this is slightly more than current total global consumption, petro-politics definitely come into play.

We can have cheap oil and still run out of it.

That's what happens when you replace all ICE with EV until you don't have much oil to extract economically.

"The Stone Age didn’t end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil." -- Sheikh Zaki Yamani