CHINA'S ENERGY-ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY IN CENTRAL ASIA

Abstract

The People's Republic of China currently ranks first in the world in terms of development dynamics. Of course, maintaining high growth rates of the national economy will also increase the need for energy resources. Although the country does not have large oil reserves (according to statistics, it accounts for 1.1% of the world's reserves), China ranks fifth in the world in terms of oil production. Although the country is one of the world's largest producers of oil, it is also its largest importer.

As a result of the steady growth in energy consumption, China is forced to increase oil imports. In 2020, oil imports increased by 7% to 61.83 million tons. Even with a further increase in the volume of oil produced in the country, the need for energy resources will grow much faster than the level of domestic oil production. The situation with natural gas also remains tense. The country does not have large reserves of natural gas, and the amount of proven reserves is 1.5 percent of the world's reserves.

Most of the developing countries of Central Asia have entered into close cooperation with China. China's cooperation with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan is being strengthened. Economic and energy cooperation has also led to the development and implementation of many new integration projects. In particular, the Silk Road Reconstruction project provides for the construction of a new infrastructure network for more convenient and dynamic economic cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and China, Turkey and even Germany. The project envisages not only the simplification of customs regimes, but also the construction of new means of communication and the expansion of the Asian market.

Energy cooperation with the Central Asian region will allow China to enter a new phase of energy security in the near future. The strategic role of Central Asia is growing due to the extremely poor provision of energy resources transportation by sea.