A Comparative Study Of China And South Korea: Energy Cooperation And Diplomacy With Central Asia

As the world economy becomes more global and diversified, energy is not only an economic issue, but also a strategic issue which is highly relevant to politics and security. In the 21st century, as many factors are intertwined, international oil markets are increasingly volatile and all countries face national, regional, and global energy security problems. Due to regional imbalance between demand and supply/production and consumption, energy security has become a more important topic in geopolitics. The concept of new energy security includes energy producers’demand security, consumers’supply security and transit countries’transport security, and emphasizes "cooperative security" and "win-win security" It involves the interests of all geopolitical actors such as energy producers, consumers, transit countries, and medium and large transnational oil companies.Since the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, there have been significant changes in global energy geopolitics. The newly independent Central Asian countries, which were regarded as Russia’s own backyard, became new main sources of global energy supply, and attracted the attention of many neighboring countries. To ensure its national and regional energy security, each country strengthened its government-led energy diplomacy by requiring that oil and gas companies participate in energy cooperation.China and South Korea are located in the Asia Pacific region; both countries are big energy consumers and importers, and heavily depend upon energy imports from the Middle East. Thus, both countries face the risk of maritime transport. Since its policy of reform and opening-up in 1978, China’s economy has been growing very fast. At the same time, the demand for oil and gas has also dramatically increased. In 2012, China became the world’s largest energy consumer, surpassing the United States. China’s energy security is vulnerable because China’s oil imports mainly depend on the Middle East and Africa and oil imports from these regions rely excessively on maritime transport. Since China and Central Asia are geographically connected to the land, opening-up the channel of oil and gas imports from Central Asia is of strategic significance to China. In the past 20 years, China has expanded its energy cooperation and diplomacy from mainly the Middle East and Africa to other regions, and this expansion has increased China’s energy security. South Korea ranked ninth in the world’s energy consumption in 2012. As this country has almost no energy resources of its own, its dependence on foreign energy is very high, especially its oil imports from the Middle East, which reach 87 percent. In order to alleviate South Korea’s dependence on this region and ensure energy supply security, the Roh Moo-hyun government started energy cooperation with Central Asian countries in 2003, and proposed the "Plan to enter Central Asia" in 2006. South Korea is a latecomer to energy development and cooperation in Central Asia. Therefore, an analysis of China’s experience in energy cooperation and diplomacy with Central Asian countries can provide inspiration and reference for the current and future energy strategies of South Korea.This paper, based on a geopolitical perspective, examines the geopolitical characteristics of Central Asia and its energy geopolitics in the post-Cold War era, and explores new features of energy security and China’s conception of energy security. Through research and analysis of China’s practice and strategic thinking in energy cooperation and diplomacy in Central Asia, this paper explores ideas and strategic choices of South Korea in relation to energy cooperation and diplomacy in Central Asia. This paper also explores the strategic interests of South Korea through comparative analysis of characteristics, strategies, and challenges in energy cooperation and diplomacy between China and Central Asian countries. This paper considers the fact that China and South Korea have different interests in energy security and strategic advantages in Central Asia. China’s successful energy cooperation with Central Asia is based on equality and mutual benefit, integration focusing oil and gas, and comprehensive large-scale investments and cooperation. China’s energy diplomacy toward Central Asia is the integration of state, company, and regional level diplomacy. Compared with China, South Korea’s energy cooperation with Central Asia is late, the process is slow, and the result is relatively small. However, South Korea has different strategic choices; for example, it can provide a "package deal", by fully utilizing its comparative advantages over refining technology, plant construction and information technology, as well as the experience of rapid economic development in a short period. From a broader perspective on Eurasia space, this paper further studies geopolitical relations among China, South Korea, and Central Asia, as well as trans-regional energy cooperation between Central Asia and Northeast Asia. This paper can provide a new perspective and way of thinking for China and South Korea that will ensure energy security and promote energy cooperation and diplomacy in the Eurasia space.