Journal of Energy Security

China's vast coal reserves and system of hydroelectric dams, as well as eighty nuclear reactors currently under construction or planned, will enable it to provide for its electricity needs, albeit with some non-trivial environmental consequences. Transportation fuel is a completely different story in China, as it is everywhere else. All these cars, not to mention other modes of transport (ships, trains, and planes) require gigantic quantities of oil, and China is already the world's number one importer, with 60 percent of its oil needs coming from abroad—a level of dependency almost twice as high as America’s.  Obtaining the crude will become an increasingly difficult task, considering the potential for economic growth China still harbors.  This probably means that China will be ever more willing to compromise its "peaceful rise" policy in order to meet its energy security needs. Japan went to war against the United States in 1941 largely for fear of being starved of energy. Can we learn anything from that tragedy? Read more here.