The National Government's Wartime Liquid Fuel Control Research (1937-1945)

At the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th century,the Chinese oil market was completely monopolized by oil companies in the United Kingdom and the United States.Foreign oil companies controlled the lifeblood of China's energy supply,posing huge risks to China's economic security and national defense security.In the 1930 s,in response to the economic crisis and the crisis of Japan's invasion of China,the National Government stepped up economic preparations and tried to control the liquid fuel resources represented by oil.After the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan,China's coastal ports were gradually blocked by Japan,and oil supply was in crisis.To cope with the crisis,the National Government learned from the control experience before the war,implemented a liquid fuel control system,and gradually built a liquid fuel control network.Among them,the Liquid Fuel Control Committee is the core organization in charge of control matters,and it has undergone many adjustments and changes.The basic path for the National Government to control liquid fuel during the war was to control and allocate this strategic resource by the state,increasing resource supply and optimizing resource allocation from two aspects: open source and conservation.The construction of the control network has promoted the development of open source and conservation.From the perspective of open source,the National Government first formulated oil import supervision policies,shifting from market-led to government-led,and actively sought political assistance while insisting on commercial imports."Oil diplomacy" became an important part of diplomatic work.Secondly,the value orientation of "self-reliance" is adopted,and the strategy of "embedded in control" is adopted to promote the development of the domestic petroleum industry,alcohol industry and vegetable oil refining industry,and a series of regulations have been promulgated around the work of increasing production.The core factor affecting domestic liquid fuel production is the price issue,and price control is the key to liquid fuel control.The price-limiting policies implemented by the National Government contradicted the industry's pursuit of reasonable profits.The price formation mechanism and the right to speak in pricing have become the focus of repeated games between the industry and the government.From a conservation perspective,its purpose is to give priority to meeting military needs and to reduce private consumption.The first is to control the distribution,the Liquid Fuel Control Committee will coordinate the distribution,adjust the supply and demand,and adhere to the military-oriented.The second is to control consumption by launching a campaign to save gasoline to intervene in personal consumption behavior and mobilize social forces to monitor waste.The third is to check smuggled oil and prevent the disorderly flow of resources in the form of cracking down on the black market.However,the advancement of the control work in each link is facing multiple obstacles,which are full of competition and contradictions between supply and demand,military and civilian use,and between the central and local governments.During the war,liquid fuel control showed distinct phase characteristics.The control system was gradually improved and the scope gradually expanded.However,because the government's role is largely dependent on Chiang Kai-shek's personal authority,the personalization of control is quite strong,and the role of the Liquid Fuel Control Committee tends to weaken.From the perspective of the performance of liquid fuel control,on the one hand,it played an important role in supporting the War of Resistance against Japan,alleviating the liquid fuel crisis during the war,enhancing the confidence of the people in the victory of the war,and improving the level of industrialization during the war.On the other hand,there are great limitations and defects in the control of liquid fuels,which have aroused dissatisfaction from the industry,public opinion and even foreign experts.At the same time,defects such as the internal difficulties of regulatory agencies,corruption,control chain fracture and so on hinder the full play of the control efficiency.State power intervention in economic operations is the main feature of the controlled economy,and the government occupies a dominant position in economic development.However,the operation of the controlled economy in wartime is not the result of one-way control by the state,but is shaped by the two-way interaction between the state and society.The National Government and the liquid fuel industry have maintained a cooperative relationship,but there are also games and "confrontation" phenomena.