Ma Kai, Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, on Monday posted an article on the commission's website rejecting the "China energy threat" which blamed Chinese oil demand and imports for the oil price hike. Ma Kai says China has never and will never constitute a threat to world energy security.

Ma Kai says in his article that China has relied mainly on itself to resolve the energy problem. Between 1978 and 2005, 90 percent of energy resources came from China's domestic market. The percentage of self-reliance was 20 percent higher than OECD countries and 30 percent point higher than the US.

China can resolve its energy problem by itself because China is not only a large energy consumer but also a large producer, the second largest in the world. China mainly relies on coal to meet the demand for energy, as it is rich in coal resources.

Although China is one of the biggest consumers of power, both its per capita consumption rate and import levels are lower than the world average. In 2005, the world average of per person consumption of energy was equivalent to 1.65 tons of oil. In China the average was just 1.18 tons, 25 percent lower than the world average, just one quarter of Japan's average and 14 percent of the US' average.

Ma Kai says that some people have speculated that China is to blame for the international oil price hike. "But this is not true; such arguments disguise the real reason for increasing oil prices."

He says that in recent years, oil prices have increased from 20 to 30 dollars per barrel to 70 to 80 dollars. There were both economic factors and non-economic factors in the process. A global economic revival increased the demand for oil. However non-economic factors played an even bigger role in price hikes. The main reason for the increase was the massive amount of money put into speculative funds to cook the oil price.

Ma Kai says that according to some overseas analysts, when the oil price was 70 to 80 dollars per barrel, speculative funds accounted for 15 to 20 of those dollars. In China, oil imports and exports have long been within the extent of normal trade. In 2005, China's net oil imports only accounted for 5.5 percent of the world total while the US and Japan's oil imports accounted for 25 percent and 10 percent respectively. Compared to the world's biggest importers of oil, China's imports are not particularly significant and certainly not big enough to have a major impact on international oil prices.

Ma Kai says China will not pose any threat to world energy security because China's internal energy supply is sufficient, and more importantly, China has the potential to save a lot of energy. He added that although China relies mainly on its domestic energy supply, it will continue to import a certain proportion of oil as a supplement, but that this won't threaten world energy security.

By People's Daily Online