Oiling the wheels of foreign policy?

Resource requirements in general, and energy needs in particular, are an important component of China’s international relations. From a domestic Chinese perspective, since the turn of the century, there has been a new and urgent focus on the need to ensure reliable and continued access to energy supplies. This focus on energy has in part helped change the fundamental thinking on the nature of security in China, introducing a much stronger focus on economic security and economic (market) solutions alongside traditional conceptions of inter-state war and diplomacy. But the move from energy self-sufficiency has also fed into existing security anxieties.