China, an important safeguard of world energy security

China is a very important force that could maintain and safeguard world energy security, said Xiong Guangkai, chairman of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies (CIISS), in his article published on the Study Times, a newspaper sponsored by the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Xiong pointed out that China is both a large energy consumer and producer. World energy security is highly linked with China.

Over the past 20 years, China has made remarkable progress in energy development. It realized the goal of increasing its GDP by two folds at the cost of one fold rise in energy consumption. Chinese government also plans to double its 2000's GDP in 2020.

Economic growth must be guaranteed by energy development. Though China's total energy reserve is not small, its per capita level is less than one half of the world average, said Xiong.

In recent years, as China's economy continues to grow, the country's energy demands have been rising, especially after China became a net oil importer in 1993.

In 2005, China imported a total of 119 million tons of oil, its reliance on imported oil has exceeded 40 percent.

As the country is going through the industrialization and urbanization, its needs for energy are higher than before. The ever-increasing demand will cause great pressure on energy supply. The gap between energy demand and supply will exist for a long time, said Xiong.

What's more, as China's excessive coal consumption are the crux of its energy structure, the country also faces lots of pressure from coal pollution.

According to Xiong, the Chinese government is taking a series of measures to cope with its energy problem. Energy saving and consumption reduction have been given a higher priority by Chinese government.

The 11th Five-Year Plan also has proposed building a "conservation-minded society" and calls for energy consumption of unit GDP to be cut by 20 percent in 2010.

In this year's government work report, Premier Wen proposed that energy consumption per unit of GDP should be reduced by 4 percent if GDP grows by 8 percent.

A multiple energy sources strategy should be carried out to exploit alternative energies.

According to China's Mid and Long Term Energy Strategy drafted in 2004, China has taken energy structure optimization as a major long term task. Other renewable resources exploration like hydroelectric, nuclear power, wind energy and bio energy are encouraged.

By 2020, China is expected to raise its renewable resources to 15 percent from current 7 percent in the energy mix.

Apart from Middle East, China will also import oil from Russia, central Asia, Africa and Latin America.

In 2004, China has mapped out a plan for building four oil reserve bases. So far, the oil base in Zhenhai of Zhejiang Province has been basically completed and the rest 3 will be finished in the next two years.

Xiong also pointed out that China will also contribute to the promotion of world energy security.

In 2004, China, together with Japan and Thailand, jointly launch the CAIRNS Initiative at the 29th APEC energy conference, which has brought many positive impacts on energy development.

In 2005, China successfully held the international renewable energy conference, which has greatly promoted the international cooperation and sustainable development of renewable energy resources.

China also actively promoted cooperation with the OPEC and International Energy Agency to seek more dialogues with other countries.

By People's Daily Online