5. G20: Challenge and Opportunity
The G20 offers a potential avenue through which
China and partner countries can pursue reforms.
Its membership has critical mass in key areas
such as emissions, energy consumption and
investment and R&D, as well as workstreams in
relevant areas such as infrastructure, green
finance, investment and fossil fuel subsidies. It
also has a track record of reforming international
organisations and establishing new ones. However, the G20 also presents significant challenges, not least a lack of institutional capacity
and focus. In the short term, the largest challenges may be political, with the current US
administration unlikely to support many of the
reforms explored in this paper.
6. Belt and Road Initiative: A Platform for
Cooperation
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provides
various opportunities for cooperation with partner countries: on energy security, possibly
through the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT); on
low-carbon energy and infrastructure, in partnership with multilateral development banks; and
on electricity network integration. China is capable of building formal governance structures
associated with the BRI. But it will need to
consider the opportunity cost of creating new
governance arrangements in the BRI (instead of
at the global level) and the appetite of BRI
countries to agree new governance arrangements
beyond the existing ones they participate in (e.g.
ECT, IEA, ASEAN Plus Three).
7. China’s Strategic Path
Ultimately, how China seeks to pursue enhanced
cooperation is a strategic question for China. At
one extreme, China could adopt a pragmatic,
transactional approach based on bilateral deals
with one country after another. At the other
extreme, China might seek to pursue its
objectives through multilateral institutions. There
are pros and cons to each—for example, while
individual bilateral deals may be easier to make,
they might not provide global goods and could
become too numerous to manage effectively. On
the other hand, multilateral approaches may be
better suited to providing global goods but can
take a long time to negotiate or reform.
Plotting the different cooperation options
considered above on the matrix presented in the
introduction is revealing (see below) (Fig. 51).
While the options span a range of market- and
policy-led approaches, very few are based on a
transactional approach. Instead, the proposals
cluster among regionalism and multilateralism, in
the form of efforts to establish, strengthen and
promote common rules and norms.
10 China’s International Energy
Cooperation and Strategies
China has become the world’s second-largest
economy, with sustained and rapid economic
development and continuously growing national
strength, since its reform and opening up began
in 1978. With its growing economy, China’s
demand for energy is increasing, turning it into a
country with high levels of energy production,
consumption and trade, as well as an increasing
dependence on foreign energy.
China is also becoming a leader in global
energy technology deployment. China’s development has had a significant and far-reaching
impact on the global energy landscape. Influenced by world politics, the global economy and
technological revolution, the international energy
landscape displays new features and changes and
brings new opportunities and challenges to different countries. It is difficult for any one country
to address critical energy issues on its own. The
question of how to reform global energy governance and guarantee every country’s energy
interests through international cooperation has
become a major issue for China and other
660
W. Jigang and P. Webb
The G20 offers a potential avenue through which
China and partner countries can pursue reforms.
Its membership has critical mass in key areas
such as emissions, energy consumption and
investment and R&D, as well as workstreams in
relevant areas such as infrastructure, green
finance, investment and fossil fuel subsidies. It
also has a track record of reforming international
organisations and establishing new ones. However, the G20 also presents significant challenges, not least a lack of institutional capacity
and focus. In the short term, the largest challenges may be political, with the current US
administration unlikely to support many of the
reforms explored in this paper.
6. Belt and Road Initiative: A Platform for
Cooperation
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provides
various opportunities for cooperation with partner countries: on energy security, possibly
through the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT); on
low-carbon energy and infrastructure, in partnership with multilateral development banks; and
on electricity network integration. China is capable of building formal governance structures
associated with the BRI. But it will need to
consider the opportunity cost of creating new
governance arrangements in the BRI (instead of
at the global level) and the appetite of BRI
countries to agree new governance arrangements
beyond the existing ones they participate in (e.g.
ECT, IEA, ASEAN Plus Three).
7. China’s Strategic Path
Ultimately, how China seeks to pursue enhanced
cooperation is a strategic question for China. At
one extreme, China could adopt a pragmatic,
transactional approach based on bilateral deals
with one country after another. At the other
extreme, China might seek to pursue its
objectives through multilateral institutions. There
are pros and cons to each—for example, while
individual bilateral deals may be easier to make,
they might not provide global goods and could
become too numerous to manage effectively. On
the other hand, multilateral approaches may be
better suited to providing global goods but can
take a long time to negotiate or reform.
Plotting the different cooperation options
considered above on the matrix presented in the
introduction is revealing (see below) (Fig. 51).
While the options span a range of market- and
policy-led approaches, very few are based on a
transactional approach. Instead, the proposals
cluster among regionalism and multilateralism, in
the form of efforts to establish, strengthen and
promote common rules and norms.
10 China’s International Energy
Cooperation and Strategies
China has become the world’s second-largest
economy, with sustained and rapid economic
development and continuously growing national
strength, since its reform and opening up began
in 1978. With its growing economy, China’s
demand for energy is increasing, turning it into a
country with high levels of energy production,
consumption and trade, as well as an increasing
dependence on foreign energy.
China is also becoming a leader in global
energy technology deployment. China’s development has had a significant and far-reaching
impact on the global energy landscape. Influenced by world politics, the global economy and
technological revolution, the international energy
landscape displays new features and changes and
brings new opportunities and challenges to different countries. It is difficult for any one country
to address critical energy issues on its own. The
question of how to reform global energy governance and guarantee every country’s energy
interests through international cooperation has
become a major issue for China and other
660
W. Jigang and P. Webb