From alternet.org: As China’s economic growth begins to transform the global energy industry, getting U.S. policy toward China “right” has never been more important.
As observers outside of China warn of a looming Chinese endgame in global energy assets, manipulated by Beijing, leading policymakers inside of China are facing considerable challenges governing major energy companies — especially those that the state owns. Chinese President Hu Jintao’s recent tour of African states and rumors of the first Chinese takeover of an overseas listed company have attracted critical attention and spurred much discussion. Most analysis of China’s energy governance has placed the central government in the driver’s seat. The reality is that this perspective is grossly misleading.
Critics of Beijing should take a collective step back and re-examine the historical and contemporary dynamics shaping energy policy in China. First, government actors — even at the central level — are plagued with vague and conflicting interests, resulting in still-born energy institutions that historically have failed to produce focused energy policy. Second, successful measures by the central government in state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform have created newly empowered corporate actors whose operations are largely obscured from official view, and who selectively tap state resources as they see fit. Third, the traditional levers of “top-down” vertical authority by the Chinese state, such as direct financing, permit approval, and penalty enforcement have been greatly weakened by domestic reform. Energy decisions in China do not conform to the state-dominant view suggested by both pundits and government officials. At best, this lens leads to ineffective US policies. At worst, it encourages the dismissal of competing evidence, greatly weakening the ability of policymakers to identify emerging trends and to forecast future trends. [Full Text]
