Decoding the changes of China’s foreign energy policy after the Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party: from national to international

China first began to import oil products in 1993 and has since become increasingly reliant on oil imports. China’s energy policy in this period has involved a process of ‘going out’. In other words, it has been internationalized, relying increasingly on ‘overseas’ fuel markets as well as domestic resources. China’s national oil companies (NOCs) and private companies have been encouraged to become more international in their activities. Through a form of energy diplomacy, involving good diplomatic relations with resource-rich countries and energy cooperation agreements, China’s government and the NOCs have acquired access to the oil and gas resources needed to fill the growing gap between China’s domestic production and its consumption. Due to significant domestic coal production, China still has a relatively low level of dependence on foreign hydrocarbons (11 per cent), but its reliance on imported oil (58.9 per cent) is significant and growing, and has become China’s Achilles Heel