Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 06/2010

La seguridad energética en la política exterior de China en el siglo XXI

María Florencia Rubiolo

February 2010

CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política

Abstract

Chinese energy security and foreign policy in the twenty-first century

The growing pace of the People’s Republic of China, which between the years 1999 and 2008 kept an average annual rate over 9%, has caused an increasing need of natural resources. Since 1993, when the country turns into a distinct oil importer, Beijing’s worries regarding energetic dependence and supply instability deepened. In tune with the domestic energy context, Beijing starts to redefine its foreign policy strategies based on a new concept of energy security. The aim of this article is to analyze how this concept influences the contemporary Chinese foreign policy.