highlights the importance of “energy transit countries”; for example, Belarus,
Ukraine and Turkey are not main oil or gas-producing areas, but these countries
serve as the important channels between oil (especially natural gas) producing
countries and oil or gas-consuming countries. In recent years, the EU and Russia
have engaged in a game involving the South Stream pipeline and the Nabucco
pipeline, while Russia and Ukraine have wrestled with each other over the North
Stream pipeline project, actually not only for geopolitical considerations but also
for the sake of national interests. Therefore, the new global energy governance
system cannot exclude these important energy transit countries—although they are
not important energy exporting countries, they can exert an important influence by
virtue of their advantages as energy transit countries.
Therefore, there is a vast, expanding“grey zone”beyond today’s global energy
governance system. This“grey zone”includes emerging energy-producing coun-
tries like Russia and emerging energy-consuming countries like China, India and
Brazil as well as energy transit regions such as Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and
the Baltic States, which have a vital influence on the future world energy market
and the global energy governance system.
Reform is also a headache for Western countries; however, if reform is not
launched, both the legitimacy and the influence of the global energy governance
system will substantially decline; if reform is carried out, the influence of Western
countries may be crippled and the roles of the market may be weakened. Although
Russia has signed theEnergy Charter Treatyand refused to initiate liberalization
reform of its domestic energy market according to the mode of Western countries,
its status as a large energy producer cannot be replaced; Russia is a real“hot potato”
for Western countries. China is an increasingly important force on the world energy
market. In January, 2012, the IEA’s Executive Director explicitly welcomed
China’s participation in this agency. However, whether China has the desire to
participate in the international energy organization fully led by Western countries
under existing mechanisms and arrangements is still uncertain. It can be imagined
that if countries like Russia, China and India participate in the international mul-
tilateral energy governance system, great changes will take place in the international
energy governance system based on a market led by Western countries.
8.3 China-EU Energy Relations
China-EU energy relations are characterized by the coexistence of cooperation and
competition. These relations are subject to the energy production and consumption
structures of the two sides on the one hand, and are vulnerable to the supply and
demand relationship on the international energy market on the other hand.
8 The Global Energy Governance Structure... 161