China Opens Its Energy Sector to Foreign Cooperation

At the APEC industrial and commercial leaders’ summit meeting in Pusan, ROK, Chinese President Hu Jintao announced that China will step up talks and cooperation with other nations with the common aim of stabilizing and making secure the world’s energy resources. President Hu said that China expects cooperation to go beyond oil and gas exploration to enter the spheres of reproducible and clean energy.

China is willing to cooperate with Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries in finding sources and new uses of energy, under the principle of equality and mutual benefit, according to Qin Gang, spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Strategic partnership relations have been established between China and Russia and Kazakhstan, and cooperation between them is ongoing. The first stage of the Sino-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline project, invested and built by both countries, has begun. This will be China’s first cross-border crude oil pipeline.