price and environmental protection, both China and the EU have shifted from an oil
strategy to a gas strategy, and Eurasia has become more important, especially with
the discovery of the Shah Deniz gasfield in Azerbaijan and the gasfield in
Turkmenistan; China and the EU are competing for gas resources in this region
through development and investment; the hallmark competitive projects are the
China-Kazakhstan“Central Asia Gas Pipeline (CAGP)”and the EU-Azerbaijan,
etc. NABUCO Gas Pipeline.
From the perspective of bilateral cooperation, currently, a relatively stable
energy dialogue mechanism has preliminarily taken shape between China and the
EU. Besides energy cooperation involved in the regular China-EU leaders’summit,
three cooperation modes have also been established between China and the EU:
first, the China-EU Energy Conference established in 1994 meets biennially; sec-
ond, the China-EU Energy Dialogue, established in 1997, is annually held in
Chinese and European cities by turns; third, the China-EU Energy Summit was held
in 2012. Thefirst two modes have become regular ones; the Energy Summit is
expected to be continued. In May, 2012, theChina-EU Joint Declaration on
Energy Securitywas passed at the China-EU Energy Summit, which marks the
preliminary establishment of a China-EU strategic energy partnership, while the
China-EU Joint Declaration on Energy Securityis not merely limited to the issue of
energy supply security of common concern, but it also suggests that both sides
should cooperate closely in future reforms of the global energy governance system
so as to promote the establishment of global energy governance rules and standards,
and strictly perform responsibilities and obligations of treaty organization to which
both sides jointly accede. Appeal and position specified in the China-EU Joint
Declaration on Energy Security: China supports the establishment of a rational, fair
and binding global energy market governance mechanism including
energy-producing countries, energy-consuming countries and energy transit coun-
tries under the G20 framework.
8.4 Conclusions and Suggestions
Given the current international energy market pattern and global energy gover-
nance, China can take the following steps to improve its energy situation:first, fully
utilize the status of fast-growing energy consumer, and actively participate in
developing global energy governance system rules; second, make full use of ade-
quate capital at hand to energetically participate in new international energy
development projects; third, take full advantage of traditional friendly relations with
Russia and Central Asian countries, selectively, focus on priorities to develop and
consolidate cooperation with potential energy-supplying countries; fourth, besides
energy project investment and development, pay attention to developing political
and economic relations;fifth, China should play more active roles in the existing
global energy governance mechanism and endeavor to build China-led multilateral
and bilateral energy cooperation frameworks, e.g. cooperation with African
164 X. Yanping