The Party, the Oil Companies, and Energy Security: Who Determines Chinese Policy?

China is today the third largest importer of crude oil in the world. Since 1993 when the country’s consumption of oil first exceeded the capacity of its domestic production, China has become a net importer and has witnessed a growing appetite for oil during the past decade. Energy security has been given enormous emphasis in the country’s foreign policy making, and is believed to be one of the most important components of China’s foreign policy in the 21 century. While enough ink has been spilled on the assessment of what China’s energy security policy looks like, few scholarly inquiries have been made into the domestic sources of China’s energy security policy. The purpose of this article is to reevaluate such a policy by identifying the different domestic stakeholders and analyzing how the potential divergence between the state and the oil companies influences the final policy outcome. INDEX WORDS: China, Energy Security, Oil Companies, CCP THE PARTY, THE OIL COMPANIES, AND ENERGY SECURITY: WHO DETERMINES CHINESE POLICY?