Both policy makers and academics alike hold this view: that Beijing, a juggernaut securing energy resources for its economic survival, undermines Washington’s superpower position.
Such perceptions are flawed, fallacious accusations that potentially establish the foundations for hostile dynamics in energy security between the two states. This is because there is profound room for collaboration and many platforms for strategic cooperation for a win-win situation, not just for the US and China but for global energy security. Instead of competing goals, the two countries’ shared interests — such as low and stable world oil prices, secure world sea-lanes and a status quo Middle East — should be the focus.
The US should induce China to rely more on international markets and less on exclusive supply deals to meet its energy needs. US efforts to this end have consisted largely of dialogue aimed at convincing Chinese officials of the economic irrationality of paying market premiums to obtain equity oil deals. This approach seems futile given the great suspicions between them. A more developed US approach going beyond market logic is imperative. For instance, the US should assure China that, short of a military conflict that the US is not seeking, it would keep sea-lanes open to China from the Persian Gulf. The US should also actively encourage, or at least not discourage, the participation of US oil companies in joint ventures with Chinese counterparts, including upstream exploration and production. As some observers opine, pushing for such participation would give China a sense of partnership with the US in its search for energy security.
On a more macro scale, the US must also spearhead the facilitation of Chinese membership into the International Energy Agency (IEA). Chinese admission faces several hurdles, chiefly the prerequisite of OECD membership and the requirement that members have a 90-day oil stockpile. With China looming ever larger as a petroleum consumer and importer, if Beijing is not brought into the IEA equation its actions in an energy crisis could potentially disrupt the coordination efforts of the major Western nations. Therefore, the US should play a leading role to help the IEA and China look for inroads to draw Beijing into the organisation. And until Chinese membership becomes possible, the US must maximise coordination between the IEA and China.
Husien Khamis is currently studying a Masters in Asian Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and is a delegate at ANU Asia Pacific Week 2011.