ABSTRACT
Energy decisions in China are at least as political as they are in the United States. But the impact of confused and contradictory energy policies is worse in China than in the US because China lacks the moderating effect of myriad private sector decisions. International politics, or, more specifically, domestic debates over China’s foreign policy and the way those debates are shaped by external developments, also affect China’s ability to develop its energy resources. China probably could develop its energy resources without foreign assistance, but neither the country nor the political leadership can afford further delay. Energy demand and the Chinese populace’s expectations for a higher standard of living are rising inexorably. The strategy of development adopted shortly after the death of Mao Zedong and purge of the “gang of four” in 1976 assumed that energy production could and would increase steadily.
