Documentation Brochure - Hamburg Summit

China`s Need for Energy and Natural Resources
Secure supplies of energy and raw
materials are of great importance
for China. Energy is the driving force
behind the Chinese economy’s
enormous dynamism. 40 % of the world
increase in oil consumption comes from
China, former Australian Prime Minister
Bob Hawke estimated, and Ernst-Ulrich
von Weizsäcker, Professor at the
University of California in Santa
Barbara, adds more figures. “China,” he
said, “produces 4 % of the world’s
domestic product but consumes 12 %
of the energy.”
“China’s energy and resource
consumption per unit of GDP is much
higher than that of the rest of the
world,” said Xie Qihua, Chairwoman of
Baosteel Group Corporation, the
country’s biggest steelmaker. “China,”
she warned, “faces an increasingly
severe shortage of energy and resources.”
To prevent that from happening,
the Chinese government made a significant
adjustment to the national development
strategy. The new eleventh
five-year plan focuses on eco-efficient
economic development and environmental
protection. Furthermore, the
plan seeks to improve the utilisation of
natural resources so as to reduce
energy consumption by 20 % per unit
of GDP by 2010.
But China’s consumption of energy
and raw materials will increase
nonetheless. Renewable energies such
as wind power will play a part in this
development. Werner Marnette, CEO of
Norddeutsche Affinerie AG, warned the
Chinese not to make the same mistakes
as the Germans: “Ensure that there is
competition in the production of energy.”
“The main goal is coal”, Zhao said.
“Coal is extremely important in China,”
Jean-Christophe Iseux, Special Adviser
to the People’s Government of China
agreed. Iseux also forecasted that China
will devote substantial political efforts
to secure imports of oil and other sources
of primary energy. Hawke agreed
unreservedly: “China’s diplomats are
heavily into securing foreign energy
resources.” He also stressed that Iran’s
importance for China should not be
underestimated. “It is very much in the
centre of a conflict between the United
States and China,” he said. Hawke therefore
sees great opportunities for a
“convergence of interests between
China and Europe.”