The Study of China’s Strategy for Energy Security – A Case Study on the Development of Stabilizing of Oil Supply (1993-2005)

• Main Authors: Chia-Lin Fang, 方家麟
• Other Authors: James F. Tzeng Ph.D.
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/58595008122751406716

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 國際事務與戰略研究所碩士在職專班 === 94 === To the stable growth of China’s economy, oil is the key issue. It believes that China would lose its anchor and pillar of economic arteries if it had not steady supply of oil. It can be said that the factor of energy resources plays a crucial role in the developing process of China’s economy. China has become a net importer of crude oil since 1993, and its demand for oil is steadily on the increase in last decade. Since the situation that the production of the PRC’s owns sources is quite limited, China actively strides out of mainland and looks for the overseas oil sources, and it has become the only choice for the tactics of energy security. Accordingly, China adopts numerous specific tricks, such as military exchanges, reciprocal trade, cooperatively exploiting nature resources and power diplomacy, to consolidate the relations with those oil-producing countries. In the meanwhile, to obtain the sufficient oil supply, China simultaneously lapses itself into the complicated environment of scrambling national interests with other world powers. Some situations such as the siege from US-Japan alliance, the struggles with merging powers for oil sources and the rapid exhaustion of natural resources, those foregoing are troublesome problems China has to handle, not only have caused the strong impacts on the acquisition of oil but also formed a harsh challenge on its energy strategies. Fortunately, those crises also can be regarded as its turning points. The analyses and observations on China’s long-term strategies for above circumstances, show that no matter the scheme to surmount the US-Japan alliance’s siege, assuring the flowing without obstruction on the conveying channel, the use of string-of-pearls layout, and the contend for oil sources against other countries like Indonesia and Japan, and even some artifices include the technical manipulations for developing and managing of oil sources, the setting of system of Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the research and development of alternative energy and economizing on the consumption of energy by legislation, it asserts categorically that the key factor that China’s steady supply of oil is not somebody else, but handle by its own willing under the presupposition that the international crude oil won’t be exhausted completely in short time. The growth of comprehensive nation-power of China has already made itself into the list of world powers, and that China skillfully masters the diplomatic tacks will let its position in international oil markets become more important in the future. China needs a stable domestic and overseas environment in order to development, meanwhile, it also needs the steady oil supply; therefore, China will not break the peace in the near future, it could be the best strategy to compromise out of consideration for its general interest.