China’s Energy Diplomacy via the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Abstract

In the early 1990s, China’s energy security changed from one of self-sufficiency to a net importer of energy resources. China’s oil imports increased five-fold between 1991 and 2012, reaching 1 million barrels per day in mid-2012. Since 2007 China has also become a natural gas importer, aiming to satisfy ten per cent of its total energy demand with gas by 2020 (EIA, 2012a). China’s growing energy dependency on external resources has made Beijing vulnerable to fluctuations in global energy prices. The stability of the energy supply has been a precondition for China’s economic growth and the factor ensuring socio-political stability. As a result, energy security has become a core interest of the CCP leadership and an inherent element of China’s foreign policy. To address its new energy security concerns, China has pursued a long-term energy strategy. This strategy aims at reforming its domestic energy institutions and adjusting national oil companies (NOCs) to become more competitive in the global market. China has also looked to diversify energy suppliers and to secure access to oil and gas fields (Zhang, 2011, pp. 11–12).