The South China Sea Problem And China's Energy Security

Energy is the base of national development and security. The contradiction between energy supply and requirement in China has become more and more obvious since 1990's, along with the high-speed development of Chinese economy. In 2003, China became the second largest oil consumption country in the world, depending more and more on the importing energy. China's energy security is facing double challenges from both inside and outside. The South China Sea is very important to China's energy security in energy supply and transportation, because of its abundant oil reserve and busy sea-lane. It has become the hotspot in Asia-Pacific region for the conflict on sovereignty, as well as the competition on energy security. The thesis focuses on both China's energy security and South China Sea problem, tracing the change and development of recent years, analyzing the interaction between the two aspects. China should handle the South China Sea problem properly, maintain the stable regional situation, which is the basic condition of national energy security. On the other hand, China has to seek new cooperation on energy around the world, establishing new energy security on worldwide scale.