Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 09/2010

Oiling the Wheels of Foreign Policy? Energy Security and China's International Relations

Zha Daojiong

March 2010

Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies

Abstract

This paper offers a review of a broad set of issues that are recurrent in international discussions about interconnectedness of energy and security in China’s international relations. The primary purpose of this exercise is to identify points of convergence and divergence in Chinese and international commentaries about the motivations behind and consequences of the increasing presence of China in the international energy markets. As oil is the primary commodity that is of issue, in the paper ‘energy’ more or less equates to oil.