China‘s search for oil security: A critique

As China‘s economy has soared in the twenty–first century, its thirst for oil has defied gravity as well. Between 2001 and 2012, China‘s oil consumptionmore than doubled, and its share of world demand jumped from 6 to 12 percent.1 Even in 2009, as world oil consumption sank amid the global financialcrisis, China‘s consumption grew more than 3 percent. This growing demand, along with rising production in the United States, means that China is poised tobecome the world‘s top oil importer in 2014. More and more of China‘s supply will come from abroad. In recent years, China has had to import between 50 and60 percent of its crude oil.2 By 2035 that figure could approach 80 percent.3Little wonder, then, that the topic of “energy security”;-traditionally definedas the ability of a country to procure sufficient, affordable, and reliable energysupplies-has become a hot topic in China over the past decade.4 Whereas the People‘s Daily mentioned the term “energy security” (nengyuan anquan) onlyonce in 2000, the Chinese Communist Party‘s official newspaper published 476articles using the term from 2009 to 2011. For many in China, the country‘sbiggest problem in this regard is its mounting reliance on energy imports and theexternal vulnerability that these imports imply. Others take a less traditional viewand highlight China‘s domestic energy challenges, especially the unreliability ofits power sector and the environmental costs imposed by its heavy reliance oncoal. In both cases, the concern is that energy represents a growing challenge thatChina must confront.