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An Overview

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Issues Decisive for China’s Rise or Fall

Abstract

The greatness of a nation can be evidenced by both its capacity to handle crises and its ability to draw lessons from the crises experienced. Wars, natural disasters and economic depressions can all result into crises challenging a nation’s well existence. Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the country has experienced some economic stagnations and stresses, as well as political turmoil. Nevertheless, the Chinese government and its media have never publicly classified any such hardships encountered as a crisis. The usual word used to describe such adversity has been: “difficulty”. However, warnings are now made both officially and publicly that the most formidable crisis that China has ever confronted – energy crisis – is approaching.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The meaning of “crisis” here refers to a condition of instability or danger.

  2. 2.

    These include the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, the 3-years’ natural disaster, the stagnation of the planned economy, the failures in medical and educational reforms, and the turmoils on the securities markets etc.

  3. 3.

    See Jiang Ze Min , “Reflections on Energy Issues in China” 42(3) Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University (Science) (2008) 345–359.

  4. 4.

    Ibid, 345.

  5. 5.

    See Xinghua Chen, Energy Changes Fate – How China will face Challenges (Beijing Xinhua Press, Beijing, 2008), p. 1.

  6. 6.

    See Editor, “Energy Crisis”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_crisis.

  7. 7.

    Chen, supra note 5.

  8. 8.

    For instance, Aristotle stated: “Nature has made all things specifically for the sake of man”. See Aristotle, Politics, Bk. 1, Ch. 8.

  9. 9.

    Ibid.

  10. 10.

    See generally Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1962).

  11. 11.

    See Lynn White, “The History Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis” 155 Science (1967) 1203–1207; Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons” 162 Science (1968) 1243–1248; Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (Oxford University Press, New York, 1949); Arne Næss, “The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement” 16 Inquiry (1973) 95–100; Bill Devall and George Sessions, Deep Ecology (Gibbs M. Smith, Salt Lake City, 1985); Peter Singer, Animal Liberation : A New Ethics for our Treatment of Animals (Random House, New York, 1975).

  12. 12.

    See Peter Vardy and Paul Grosch, The Puzzle of Ethics (M.E. Sharpe, New York, 1997); Michael Andrew Smith, The Moral Problem (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 1994); Michael Andrew Smith, Ernest Sosa and Jonathan Dancy (eds.), Ethics and the A Priori: Selected Essays on Moral Psychology and Meta-Ethics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004); Alan Marshall, The Unity of Nature: Wholeness and Disintegration in Ecology and Science (Imperial College Press, London, 2002).

  13. 13.

    See Jame Peter Kimmins (Chairperson of the COMEST Sub-Commission on the Ethics of Energy), “The Ethics of Energy: A Framework for Action” 37–44. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001235/123511eo.pdf.

  14. 14.

    See Dale Jamieson, “Energy, ethics, and the transformation of nature”, in Denis G. Arnold (ed.), The Ethics of Global Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, 2011), p. 16.

  15. 15.

    Ibid.

  16. 16.

    See Rosemary Lyster and Adrian Bradbrook, Energy Law and the Environment (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006), p. xx.

  17. 17.

    See Adam Plowright, “IEA Warns Current Energy System Doomed to Failure”, Energy Daily (Paris, November 7, 2006). http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/IEA_Warns_Current_Energy_System_Doomed_To_Failure_999.html.

  18. 18.

    See World Commission on Environment and Development, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future (1987), Chapter 2.

  19. 19.

    The concept was fully explored in the theory “oneness of Heaven and man”.

  20. 20.

    This refers to the order of Heaven, Earth and the Human.

  21. 21.

    This is typically reflected in some Confucian moral rules including “the three cardinal guides and five constant virtues” and “the three obediences and four virtues”.

  22. 22.

    See The Analects of Confucius (The Analects of Confucius were written by Confucius’ pupils during the period 30–50 years after his death), Chapter 13.

  23. 23.

    This is reflected in the “non-action” principle in Taoism .

  24. 24.

    See Wm. Theodore De Bary, Irene Bloom and Joseph Adler (eds), Sources of Chinese Tradition (2nd ed., Columbia University Press, New York, 2000) Vol 1, pp. 103–105.

  25. 25.

    See the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, China’s Energy Conditions and Policies, (White Paper 2008) 1.

  26. 26.

    Ibid.

  27. 27.

    Jiang, supra note 3, 349.

  28. 28.

    Ibid.

  29. 29.

    See Songyue Chai (President, China Energy Research Society, “Envisaging China’s future Energy Strategies”, speech at 2nd U.S.-China Strategic Forum on Clean Energy Cooperation (January 18, 2011). http://www.wordwendang.com/word_hangye/06/18/648697.html.

  30. 30.

    Ibid.

  31. 31.

    See the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, supra note 26, at 2.

  32. 32.

    Ibid, at 3.

  33. 33.

    See the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Report to the Seventeenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (2007) 1.

  34. 34.

    See the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, The Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China (2011) 22; See Songyue Chai (President, China Energy Research Society, “Envisaging China’s future Energy Strategies”, speech at 2nd U.S.-China Strategic Forum on Clean Energy Cooperation (January 18, 2011) 5; See also Dingming Xu (Deputy Director, National Energy Office), “The facts and Policies concerning Energy in China” (Paper presented at the APEC Forum on Developing Renewable Energy Resources , Beijing, September 26, 2005) 1.

  35. 35.

    Ibid.

  36. 36.

    See the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, The Plan for New Energy Industry Development (2011).

  37. 37.

    This can be observed from a number of official speeches and documents.

  38. 38.

    See the People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, The Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China (2011) 24; See also Chai supra note 29, at 5; See also Xu, supra note 34.

  39. 39.

    See the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, The Plan for Developing New Energy Industry (2011). Some predicted that by 2030, the amount of natural gas will account for 10% of the total energy supply; See also Chai, supra note 29, at 6.

  40. 40.

    See Editorial, “The Principles that Should Be Upheld by the Environment Protection Plan in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan” China Environment Times (June 18, 2010). http://www.hb2000.com/shownews.asp?news_id=3748.

  41. 41.

    See Xiaoming Wu (ed.), Fundamental National Policy: Energy Development Tactics for China – A Country Proceeding towards Becoming a Great Nation (People’s Daily Press, Beijing, 2009); Jiang Ze Min , “Reflections on Energy Issues in China” 42(3) Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University (Science) (2008) 345–359; and Editorial Committee of China’s Economic Situation and Energy Development Report, China’s Economic Situation and Energy Development Report 2010 (China Electric Power Press, Beijing, 2010).

  42. 42.

    Jiang, supra note 2, at 351.

  43. 43.

    Important legislation includes the Interim Regulations on Energy Conservation 1986 (the State council), the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China for the Supervision of the safety of Civil Nuclear Facilities 1986 (State Council); and the Regulations on Protection of Power Facilities 1987 (the State Council); the Electric Power Law of the People’s Republic of China 1995 (the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China); the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Coal Industry 1996 (the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China); the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Energy Conservation 1997 (the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China); and the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Renewable Energies 2005 (the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China).

  44. 44.

    See Mingyuan Wang, “Problems in the Enforcement of Energy Laws : from the Perspective of the Conserving Energy Law and the Renewable Energy Law” 2 Legal Science (2007) 122–129.

  45. 45.

    The original text of article 8 of the Law on Energy Conservation states: “The administrative department for energy conservation under the State Council shall be in charge of supervision over and administration of the work for energy conservation throughout the country. The relevant departments under the State Council shall exercise supervision and administration in the work within the scope of their functions and responsibilities respectively.”

  46. 46.

    See You Wang and Yongyu Gao, “Will Energy Law Come up Soon after Four-Years’ Amendments?”, First Finance and Economy Daily (12 February 2010). http://news.163.com/10/0213/09/5VD2CUK1000120GR.html.

  47. 47.

    The legislative activities are about 30 years behind some developed countries. For instance, the USA and the UK enacted the National Energy Conservation Policy Act in 1978 and the Energy Act in 1976 respectively.

  48. 48.

    See Yong Zhang, Research on General Energy Law (Law Press, Beijing, 2010) 64–76.

  49. 49.

    See Yanfang Li, “Comments on Making China’s Energy Law and on the Draft Bill of Energy Law” 2 Jurists Review (2008) 95.

  50. 50.

    Ibid, at 96.

  51. 51.

    Conference on Environment and Development, United Nations Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992 – Annex I – Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, UN Doc A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. I) (12 August 1992); Conference on Environment and Development, United Nations Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992 – Annex II – Agenda 21, UN Doc A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1 (Vol. 1) (12 August 1992); Conference of the Parties, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Report of the Conference of the Parties on Its Fifteenth Session Held in Copenhagen from 7 to 19 December 2009 – Addendum – Part 2: Action Taken by the Conference of the Parties at its Fifteenth Session, UN Doc FCCC/CP/2009/11/Add.1 (30 March 2010); Conference of the Parties, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Kyoto from 1 to 10 December 1997 – Agenda Item 5 – UN Doc FCCC/CP/1997/L.7/Add 1 (10 December 1997); Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, opened for signature 22 March 1985, 1513.UNTS 293 (entered into force 22 September 1988).

  52. 52.

    See the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, China’s Agenda 21 (1994) Part One.

  53. 53.

    Li, supra note 49, at 92.

  54. 54.

    See the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, The Announcement about Establishing the National Energy Commission (2010).

  55. 55.

    See generally Yue Chen and Qinhua Xu (eds.) China International Energy Cooperation Report 2009 (Current Affairs Press, 2009).

  56. 56.

    See Liang Hu, “In-depth Reforms to the Energy Management Is in the Pipeline”, China Economic Times (January 29, 2011). http://energy.people.com.cn/GB/10876955.html.

  57. 57.

    Ibid.

  58. 58.

    See Meimei Yang, “Experts’ Insightful Discussions on the Strategic Significance of Energy Law ”, First Financial Daily (February 12, 2010). http://www.china5e.com/show.php?contentid=77014.

  59. 59.

    Jian Zhang, “China’s Energy Security : Prospects, Challenges, and Opportunities” (Visiting Fellow Working Papter, Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, the Brookings Institution, 2011) 11.

  60. 60.

    Zewei Yang, On Legal Safeguard of China’s Energy Security (Press of China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, 2009), pp. 60–76.

  61. 61.

    The amount of China’s strategic Petroleum Reserve is about 16 billion barrels, which can only last 10–15 days. Ibid, 3. The member countries of Global Strategic Petroleum Reserves are expected to have an amount of oil equal or greater than 90 days worth of the previous year’s net imports. “Definition of ‘Global Strategic Petroleum Reserves – GSPR’”, Investopedia, http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/global-strategic-petroleum-reserves.asp#axzz1iSdX1CxF.

  62. 62.

    They are: China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China Petroleum Chemical Corporation (CPCC) and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC).

  63. 63.

    Shang Jiang and Yong Huang, “On the Application of Anti-Monopoly Law to China’s Petroleum Industry” 4 Modern Law (2011) 79–88.

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    Yuwa Wei

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Wei, Y. (2019). An Overview. In: Issues Decisive for China’s Rise or Fall. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3699-7_1

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