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346 Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

impact on China’s growth and trade-dependent economy. China will endeavor to
protect the strategic areas concerning its national interest. It has no choice. In
recent years China’s energy diplomacy in the context of the political economy of
global energy developments has drawn the attention of the West, especially in
connection with the sensitive regions, such as the Middle East, Central Asia, Latin
America, and Africa. As one Chinese scholar bluntly states, “The determining
factor shaping the rise and fall of a country ultimately is not just the size of its total
economic volume but also the strategic ability of the country; that is, the ability to
use national forces to achieve political goals” (Zhang, 2006,p.22).
However, despite the global reality described earlier by this realist perception,
China’s deep sense of its energy insecurity and vulnerability is changing its
development policy toward clean and renewable energy. China is accelerating
research and development on renewable energy supply and advanced energy
conservationebased techniques and products; it is making necessary structural
changes in industrial and agricultural sectors moving to noneenergy-intensive
industries. Furthermore, China is trying to rely primarily on domestic resources
while strengthening mutually beneficial international energy cooperation. The
optimism that China is presenting to the world is not groundless. China not only is
one of the world’s leading producers of renewable energy but also is overtaking
more developed countries in exploiting valuable economic opportunities, creating
green-collar jobs, and leading development of critical low-carbon technologies.
Such optimism in China’s own “green revolution” is also confirmed by the
front page of a recent report by Climate Group (2009), “As one of the world’s
major economic powers, China will have to be at the forefront of this journey.
This report shows that it can be.” Nevertheless, China still has a long way to
meet its policy objectives on energy and environmental sustainability. Due to
its size and population the consequences of failure in China’s case are much
more serious than in many other counties. China should not be left struggling
alone on the road to optimism, and the whole world must pay more attention to
China. World peace and a sustainable planet depend on global harmony and
collaboration beyond conventional competition over supply and demand.

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