ABSTRACT

This article attempts to examine how China perceives its energy security issues. A survey of its research on energy issues offers hints on how experts influence the Chinese leadership. This article briefly looks at the assessment of the energy situation in China and the policy programmes released to tackle the problems. It then analyses the policy programmes and evaluates the overall strategy. It mainly relies on published data from China to reflect a Chinese view. China in some ways would like to follow Japan’s example in response to the international oil crises in the 1970s, i.e. upgrade its industrial structure, introduce energy conservation measures, develop new sources of energy supply, and engage in an ‘energy diplomacy’ to diversify and guarantee its energy supply.