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(US Congress, 2011). However, behind it, other sources of conflict,
nationalism, geopolitical competition, competing territorial claims, are most
likely to have been at the root cause of those conflicts (Constantin, 2005). One
Chinese scholar of strategic studies clearly explains the reason why energy
security has become a core component of China’s national interest:
With external trade accounting for almost 50 percent of China’s economy, China
is now highly interdependent with a globalized market. This shift also includes
hard social, political and geopolitical choices that deeply impact matters of
national security. The more developed China becomes the greater its dependence
grows not only on foreign trade but also on the resources to fuel the economy.
With these complex and expanding interests, risks to China’s well-being has not
lessened but has actually increased, making China’s national security at once
both stronger and more vulnerable.
Zhang (2006)
China’s sensitivity on the confluence of geopolitics and resource politics is
also derived from the fact that historically China has been a weak sea power.
One of China’s key weaknesses through centuries of its development and into
the modern age is its lack of a strong navy to safeguard its global interest, and
this is perhaps one of the major factors leading to China’s massive investment
on raising and modernizing its naval capabilities. China therefore has good
reasons for acquiring an aircraft carrier to enable it to protect its national
interests (Cole, 2006). China has territorial disputes in the South China Sea
over the Spratly Islands with neighboring countries and is also worried about
the security of the major maritime transportation routes through which it
transports the majority of its foreign trade, as well as its oil imports, upon
which it is totally dependent. Based on the historical lessons, China has a clear
understanding on the linkage between its energy security and international
geopolitics, which is spelt out clearly by one scholar:
The history of capitalism and its spread globally have shown that it is often
accompanied by cruel competition between nation states. Those countries that
lose out are not necessarily economically or technologically underdeveloped or
those with a low level of culture. Rather, they are most often those nations who
forgo the need to apply their national strength to national defense and therefore
do not possess sufficient strategic capability.
Zhang (2006, p. 17)
Today the rise of China is due in large part to its rapid emergence as a
major force in world energy markets and energy geopolitics (Chan, 2011; Lo,
2011). Beijing’s booming energy consumption and heavy investment for
energy security have raised a new range of contentious issues between China
and other world powers that are adding a new layer of issues to the already
complex and dynamic relationships. China’s economic growth is supported
by three primary pillars: (1) export-led growth, (2) real property growth,