China's Energy Needs and Energy Security

Energy Policy, 2011

China, now the world's second-largest economy, is worried about energy security, which underpins the core objectives of Beijing and the political legitimacy of the Communist Party of China. The purpose of this study is to explore certain popular myths about China's energy security. The study consists of six parts. After the introduction, it formulates the obscure concept of ''energy security'' and attempts to contextualize it with ''Chinese characteristics.'' Then it explicitly points out that the largest driver of oil demand by China as the ''World's Factory'' is transport instead of industry. Next, it explores the effectiveness of transnational pipelines as a measure of energy security and explains why they are less effective than many observers have previously assumed. Furthermore, it investigates the global expansion of Chinese national oil companies and questions their actual contribution to energy security. A few concluding remarks then follow.

As the world's largest energy consumer today, China's economic growth has been largely driven by surging energy consumption. To examine the nexus of energy and China's national security becomes an urgent task for both scholars and policy makers in the country. Over the last decade, China has adopted an energy security approach emphasizing its external energy supply, which is quite similar to the Western approach. However, as the largest energy producer in the world, China only needs to import a small percentage of primary energy to meet the demand. Its energy mix is also in sharp contrast with that of Industrialized Western countries' (IWCs), especially when we realize that coal consumption constantly accounts for about 70 percent of China primary energy mix, and oil less than 20 percent. This is largely due to Chinese industrial sector's significant contribution to its GDP and its increasing demand for coal-based electric power, China's energy-economy nexus is therefore profoundly different with that of the IWCs at this stage. Therefore, it is argued that, over the last decade, both the Chinese scholars and policy makers have not developed and employed an energy security approach reflecting its actual energy vulnerabilities and to cope with the urgent energy security threats the country faces. For a developing economy like China, a broader energy security approach should be developed to guide the scholarly research and policy making in the future.

China Quarterly, 2004

China's shift to a net oil importer has generated much speculation outside China about how China's growing dependence on foreign oil will affect its international behaviour. This discussion is framed by two competing models of China's future approach to energy security: one that foresees deeper integration into global energy markets and another that predicts efforts to minimize reliance on these markets in potentially destabilizing ways. Less attention has been paid, however, to the parallel debate unfolding inside China over how to ensure the country's oil needs are met without undermining national security. This article introduces the main participants in the debate, how the debate relates to energy security decision-making, and some of the measures to enhance energy security under consideration. It concludes with a discussion of some of the factors that will shape China's emerging approach to energy security.

China has in recent years risen to the top of the list of energy importing nations. Sometime in the past decade it overtook the United States as the world’s largest consumer of imported energy (IEA, 2014). The dramatic increase of China’s share in international energy markets has prompted the government in Beijing to prioritise relations with external suppliers. These include some of China’s closes neighbours as well as countries geographically remote from China. The country’s rapid economic growth and securing the means to fuel this growth have come to dominate Beijing’s thinking on foreign policy. China’s external relations increasingly prioritise making overseas investments in new sources of imported energy. As a result, its energy security and foreign relations have become inextricably intertwined. This special issue contains several scholarly works that explore the modalities of China’s energy security strategy and its impact on the country’s commercial relations with the rest of the world. Contributions assess the environmental implications of this strategy and discuss what it tells us about China as an international actor. The approach to energy security, geopolitics and the environment taken in this special issue is interdisciplinary. The articles presented here draw on approaches and methodologies from the disciplines of economics, management, political ecology, area studies and international relations to study China’s energy diplomacy and its international impact. Contributions cover a range of energy sources, from petroleum and natural gas to solar, hydropower and other renewables.

China's debate over what ‘energy security’ is and how it can be achieved has evolved considerably over the past decade. Traditionally, Chinese officials and analysts have been most worried about China's mounting oil imports, and they have expressed considerable wariness of international energy markets and institutions. This narrow and relatively nationalistic view of China's energy-security challenge has been challenged on several different fronts, however, particularly in the past five years. Prominent analysts now call for a more positive approach to international markets and institutions, and some argue that external dependence is a less important energy security challenge than the shortcomings of China's own energy system. China's broadening debate over energy security represents an opportunity for the outside world as it engages China on energy and climate change in the years ahead.

Defense & Security Analysis, 2003

As China's economy has expanded, so has its need for energy. Consequently, China has increased its domestic energy capacities and developed import strategies for oil and gas. In its international energy activities, China has progressed through a series of stages. The purpose of this paper is to focus on China's latest stage: creating an overland energy network, supplied primarily by Central Asia's Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and becoming the energy hub of an integrated Asian market – China's recent " Silk Road " proposal. This paper also examines the impact of Chinese energy investments on the prospects of Central Asian energy producers transitioning to emerging markets.

Pacific Focus, 2008

Economic prosperity in China is accompanied by a growing demand for energy. Heavily reliant on coal and petroleum, continued growth in Chinese energy use will rapidly increase global greenhouse gas emissions at a time when reductions are believed to be urgently needed to stabilize global climate change. By 2050 China will consume an estimated 17 percent of global energy demand. Chinese energy demand impacts global energy security as China's foreign policy agenda involves strategic partnerships with key energy suppliers.

Energy Working Papers, 2008

Abstract: This collection of papers in two volumes is the second in a series on China and East Asian Energy, a major project which is an initiative of the East Asia Forum in conjunction with the China Economy and Business Program in the Crawford School of Economics and ...

China in the light of global challenges, 2017

This article consists of five core parts. The first part places Chinese energy policy in a broader context, since energy policies are interconnected with the needs of societies. In case of China the energy needs of a truly great world power are being satisfied. The second part examines the current Chinese energy mix, providing a snapshot of where we are. In the Chinese energy mix coal consumption still plays a major role that has multiple consequences, which would be examined later. The third part provides data and analysis of China’s place in global energy systems – production and consumption, export and import, reserves and capacities – focusing on coal, petroleum, natural gas, and electricity. Such a systematic analysis based on the charts of EIA allows us to get a fact-based picture of China’s energy production and consumption in reference to top players of the world. Part four outlines some essential aspects environmental and climate implications that shape energy policies, since energy policies must take into consideration issues different from economic arguments. Climate change does and will have very severe consequences, which would alter world economy and ultimately the fate of humanity, including China. The fifth part summarises some major, foreseeable Chinese energy production and consumption trends, providing hints to what we can expect.