ABSTRACT
As part of the world’s most dynamic region for projected economic growth and geopolitical change, Asia-Pacific countries will become more import dependent for its energy demands and will require more comprehensive strategies to ensure their future access to energy resources. Among the key issues regarding this requirement are: (1) ‘energy nationalism’ versus regional and international market co-operation; (2) energy source diversification from fossil fuels to nuclear energy development and coal consumption, with implications for nuclear proliferation and environmental politics; and (3) the intensification of both contingent and structural risks to Asia-Pacific energy security (Koyama, 2001; NBR, 2004). After briefly discussing how ‘geopolitics’ relates to energy and resource issues in the Asia-Pacific, this chapter will assess each of these three issues. It will integrate each issue into broader considerations of strategic relations between and military capabilities of the region’s key energy players (the United States, Japan, China and India) and into an evaluation of possible measures to modify energy competition in the Asia-Pacific’s strategic context.
