China’s Quest for Energy Security: Why Are the Stakes So High?

China’s global quest for resources—in particular, oil and natural gas—has received unprecedented worldwide attention and scrutiny. The stakes are raised unnecessarily high mainly because of the growing politicization of Chinese energy security as a result of misconceptions and misunderstandings of China’s quest for energy security both inside and outside China. Inside China, these relate to the perceived US-led oil blockade against China and China’s illusion that its investments in oil fields overseas are able to help strengthen its energy security. Outside China, there are wide misconceptions and misunderstandings of how Chinese policy banks operate and their oil and natural gas-based loans. This paper seeks to clarify each of these points.