In September and October 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the cooperative initiatives of building the New Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, respectively. The original intention of this initiative was to draw on the ancient Silk Road, with connectivity as the main thread, to strengthen policy communication, facility connectivity, trade facilitation, financial integration and people-to-people contact with other countries, so as to inject new impetus into the world’s economic growth, open up a new space for global development, and create a new platform for international economic co-operation. Today, our country has walked with the Belt and Road countries for ten years. Summing up the past, over the past 10 years, China has been adhering to our original intention, developing with large-scale cooperation, and promoting the international cooperation of “Belt and Road” from scratch to flourish, and China has achieved many fruitful results with the countries of “Belt and Road”. In the energy sector, from policy documents and cooperation planning, to cooperation platforms and project implementation, to fund formation and financing mechanisms, we have formed a variety of achievements at different levels with rich content, which is of great significance to China’s achievement of its energy security goals.
In terms of total volume, “Belt and Road” countries are rich in energy reserves, and their supply continues to account for the bulk of China’s foreign energy imports. The “Belt and Road” countries are extremely rich in oil and gas resources, with a total of 236.862 billion tonnes of crude oil proven recoverable reserves, accounting for 54.61% of the world’s total; and a total of 219.35 trillion cubic metres of natural gas proven recoverable reserves, accounting for 63.07% of the world's total. 2022, China’s oil imports from the “Belt and Road” countries will be 398 million tonnes, accounting for 78.3% of the total imports. In 2022, China will import 398 million tonnes of oil from “Belt and Road” countries, accounting for 78.3% of the total imports, and 111.74 billion cubic metres of natural gas, accounting for 73% of the total imports. The energy exports of the “Belt and Road” countries to China have greatly safeguarded China’s energy needs.
From a structural point of view, the promotion of the “Belt and Road” construction has well supplemented China’s energy gap and promoted the overseas development of China’s new energy industry. China and the “Belt and Road” countries have obvious energy factor complementary relationship. China is a large consumer of oil and gas, with high dependence on foreign oil and gas, also in the need for a large number of imports. The “Belt and Road” countries are rich in oil and natural gas resources, filling China’s demand for oil, natural gas and other resources. The “Belt and Road” countries are rich in wind, light and other renewable energy resources, with the desire for green development, the development of new energy is an urgent motive. The global scale of wind power suitable for centralised development is 131.2pw, with the “Belt and Road” countries accounting for 72%, and the global scale of photovoltaic power suitable for centralised development is about 2647tw, with the “Belt and Road” countries accounting for 76% of the resources. The new energy development of “Belt and Road” countries will promote the full use of China’s new energy manufacturing capacity. Since the “Belt and Road” initiative was put forward 10 years ago in 2013, China’s major power companies have signed nearly 1,000 electric power engineering contracts, with a total value of more than 150 billion US dollars. China’s major power companies have invested in more than 260 major projects, of which more than 30 per cent are new energy power generation projects, mainly in solar and wind energy.
From the perspective of channels, the construction of “Belt and Road” has facilitated the construction of transport channels for China’s energy in multiple directions, including sea and land, and reduced the dependence on a single energy channel. In the past, China’s oil and gas transport relies heavily on shipping, now, thanks to the “Belt and Road” energy cooperation, China has opened up a number of inland oil and gas corridors: Northeast China and Russia’s natural gas pipeline, Northwest China and Central Asian countries natural gas pipeline, Southwest China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline. These inland corridors can make the crude oil transport does not pass through the Strait of Malacca, from the land directly into China, increase the security of the oil and gas transport process, coupled with the original sea oil and gas import channel, China now has four major oil and gas energy corridors, all through the “Belt and Road” countries.
In terms of targets, the “Belt and Road” construction builds mutually beneficial trade relations and unites most countries with abundant energy resources. Among the countries along the “Belt and Road”, many of them are unable to fully develop and utilise their rich energy resources due to the constraints of capital, technology and management. China has strong financial, technological and equipment advantages in the field of energy, and by participating in the “Belt and Road” energy co-operation, we can help the countries along the route to develop energy resources, improve the efficiency of energy use and promote economic development. At the same time, through strengthening energy cooperation with the countries along the route, it can promote trade and investment exchanges, drive the development of related industries, create more employment opportunities and promote regional economic prosperity. By seeking long-term common interests, a more solid national relationship will be formed, which will be conducive to China’s goal of energy supply security.
At present, many energy enterprises in China have launched extensive energy cooperation in the “Belt and Road” countries. Traditional energy companies, “three barrels of oil” and China Coal Group have strengthened the layout of energy cooperation in Central Asian countries. Among new energy enterprises, TCL Zhonghuan signed a Joint Development Agreement with Saudi Vision Industries; Datang Power signed a power purchase agreement for a 300MW photovoltaic project with the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan; and according to the official news released by China National Energy Construction, the group completed the signing of new contracts with 24 countries involving 37 projects by 17 October 2023, with a total funding of US$10.8 billion. with funding totalling US$10.8 billion. China, as a new market country, has a rising demand for energy. 2022, in the context of the global energy crisis and green development, many places in China are experiencing a wave of power restrictions due to a shortage of coal supply and soaring demand for electricity, and the excessive proportion of coal power has produced a large amount of carbon emissions. How to obtain a stable energy supply at a reasonable price, develop clean energy substitution in an efficient and orderly manner, and promote the internationalisation of the green energy industry in order to cope with the problems of energy security, environmental pollution and global climate change is an important issue in the process of China’s sustainable socio-economic development. Based on the spirit of the new energy security strategy of “four revolutions and one co-operation”, we are exploring ways to achieve energy security from both domestic and international levels. Domestically, under the premise of safeguarding people's energy needs, we advocate energy conservation; in the context of building a unified national energy market system, we comprehensively promote the technological revolution of the new power system and industrial development. Internationally, relying on the “Belt and Road” construction, we will seek common interests with the countries along the route, carry out wider energy cooperation, and achieve healthy and sustainable development of each other’s economy and society.
Looking to the future, in order to consolidate the development achievements of the Belt and Road and further promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road construction, President Xi Jinping announced eight actions in support of China’s high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road at the opening ceremony of the Third Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum (Belt and Road Forum) on 18 October 2023. On 18 October 2023, President Xi Jinping announced at the opening ceremony of the Third “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Summit Forum that China would support the construction of the “Belt and Road” in high quality with eight actions. China will continue to deepen cooperation in the fields of green infrastructure, green energy and green transport, increase support for the Belt and Road International Alliance for Green Development, continue to hold the Belt and Road Green Innovation Conference, and build a dialogue and exchange mechanism for the photovoltaic industry and a network of experts on green and low-carbon technologies. The PV industry will continue to hold the “Belt and Road” Green Innovation Conference, build a dialogue and exchange mechanism for the PV industry and a green low-carbon expert network. This will give stronger impetus to the development of “Belt and Road” energy cooperation, achieve greater results, and promote the achievement of China’s energy security goals.
