Less attention is paid to problems caused by economic development in food, energy, and
environmental sectors. As argued below, such problems exacerbated by the activities in the
economic sector have repercussions in other sectors, complicating China’s system. Those in the
pro-China school who are preoccupied with having a share of China’s economic miracle are
disinterested in such problems because they are considered to be internal matters as Chinese
leaders sometimes insist. However, to develop sustainable and healthy bilateral relations, Japan
should pay more attention to such sectors.
Energy sector
China’s rapid economic growth has resulted in a steep increase of its energy demand, which is
changing the outlook of the Chinese energy situation and the world energy market. The rising
energy demand will need a larger portion of the world’s energy, such as 43% of the increase in
the world coal production and 23% of that of petroleum.
In the 1990s, China became a net
importer of petroleum and it recorded 43 million tons of petroleum in net imports in 1999.
China’s energy demand continued to increase and it is now the second largest oil consumer.
The Chinese government seems to have underestimated the rapid increase in energy demand
and was not prepared. The Chinese media reported that China’s oil stock was only capable of
31
Kohkichi Ito, Asia/World Energy Outlook, The Inisitute of Energy Economics, Japan,
32
Qingzhe Jiang, and Lei Song, “Establishing North East Asian Energy Community: China's
Perspective,” in Lee-Jay Cho, Yoon Hyung Kim, and Chung H. Lee, eds., A Vision for Economic
Cooperation in East Asia, (Seoul: Korea Development Institute, Honolulu: distributed by
University of Hawaii Press, 2003), pp.214 and 219.
Convention