China's Energy Security and Eurasian Diplomacy: The Case of Turkmenistan

Abstract

China has made significant strides in developing energy diplomacy in the former Soviet states of Central Asia in the name of diversifying its trading partners. However, the case of Turkmenistan, currently undergoing a complicated leadership transition, provides evidence of China's potential limitations in engaging Central Asia in the hopes of securing nearby sources of oil and gas. The ongoing problems of post‐Soviet governance in Ashgabat and increasing competition for Turkmen natural gas suggest that Beijing may have to better define its economic interests there and allow for increased regional co‐operation building to better manage its Central Asian energy trade.

A constructed (un)reality on China's re-entry into Africa: the Chinese online community perception of Africa (2006–2008)

“…Scholars who support the resource maximisation assumption, such as Erica Downs (2004Downs ( , 2007 and Ian Taylor (2006aTaylor ( , 2006b, argue to different degrees that the campaign primarily results from considerations for the supply of natural resources. China used to rely heavily on the Middle East for oil, which provided 40-50% of China's total oil imports, but over 75% of this went through the Malacca Strait, a sea route which is vulnerable to hostile action by external powers and terrorist attacks (Lanteigne 2007). According to a projection by the International Energy Agency (2007), China's net oil imports will jump to 13 .…”

“…In November 2003, Chinese president Hu Jintao declared that oil and finance constituted the two major components of China's national economic security (Shi 2004). China used to rely heavily on the Middle East for oil, which provided 40–50% of China's total oil imports, but over 75% of this went through the Malacca Strait, a sea route which is vulnerable to hostile action by external powers and terrorist attacks (Lanteigne 2007). As David H. Shinn (2007) argues, the contribution from the African continent to China will continue to increase, as ‘China is reluctant to become excessively tied to the Middle East as a source of oil.…”

Research on Economic and Trade Cooperation Problems and Countermeasures between China and Turkmenistan

“…As one of the neighboring Central Asian countries rich in oil and gas resources, Turkmenistan is bound to become one of China's indispensable partners. In recent years, China has become the largest export market of Turkmenistan's natural gas[10]. The continuous supply of oil and gas hasmade Turkmenistan's GDP keep rising.…”

Η Ενέργεια Ως Παράγοντας Διαμόρφωσης Της Εξωτερικής Πολιτικής

“…Συνεπώς, το Τουρκµενιστάν γνώριζε ότι δεν µπορούσε να ανατρέξει στη συγκεκριµένη συµφωνία, την οποία το ίδιο είχε αθετήσει µετά την υπογραφή µε την Κίνα για την παροχή 30 bcm και στη συνέχεια 40 bcm το χρόνο. 726 Η απότοµη πτώση στην πώληση των υδρογονανθράκων ήταν τόσο σηµαντική για το µικρό κράτος του Τουρκµενιστάν που σε απόλυτα νούµερα αυτό έχασε µέσα σε ένα µήνα ποσοστό 1% του Ακαθάριστου Εθνικού Προϊόντος του και συνολικά το 25% του ετήσιου ΑΕΠ, όπως αναφέρει ο Peyrouse. 727 Φυσικά, αυτά τα δεδοµένα προέρχονται από την περίοδο συνεργασίας Τουρκµενιστάν-Ρωσίας, πριν το ατύχηµα του 2009, που συνέβη στον αγωγό, κατά την οποία η µέγιστη δυνατή ποσότητα [τελευταία πρόσβαση στις 24 Σεπτεµβρίου 2015].…”