Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.17477/jcea.2021.20.2.259

Renewable energy statecraft and asymmetric interdependence: how the solar energy industry is wielding China with geopolitical power  

Vasconcelos, Daniel de Oliveira (China Studies (Politics and International Relations) from the Yenching Academy of Peking University)
Publication Information
Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia / v.20, no.2, 2021 , pp. 259-277 More about this Journal
Abstract
This article investigates the geopolitics of the energy transition era, concentrating on China's solar photovoltaic (PV) industry. Authors have noted that the rise of renewables is changing the geopolitical landscape of world energy systems, but these new energy sources carry their own technical characteristics and geopolitical implications. Bearing this in mind, this research answers the questions: What are the structural factors that facilitate China's use of renewable energy to achieve political goals, and what are their implications? In order to analyze the data, I devise an analytical framework based on the energy statecraft literature and contrast rival explanations, particularly the "prosumer theory" and the premise of less geopolitical interdependence in a renewable-centered world. I show that asymmetric interdependence in the solar PV sector is already a reality. China's solar PV industry is a case that suffices all conditions (centrality in industrial capacity, market share, and companies' compliance, but to a lesser extent in critical materials and technological endowments) in the solar PV sector to devise effective strategies aimed at reaping benefits out of its asymmetric interdependence with the rest of the world.
Keywords
China; solar energy; energy statecraft; asymmetric interdependence; renewable energy;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Criekemans, D. (2018). Geopolitics of the Renewable Energy Game and Its Potential Impact upon Global Power Relations. In D. Scholten, The Geopolitics of Renewables. Springer International Publishing.
2 Xiang-chao, P. (2018). Research on Xi Jinping's Thought of Ecological Civilization and Environment Sustainable Development. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 153(6).
3 Ye, R., & Yuan, Y. (2021). Untangling the Crossed Wires of China's 'Super Grid'. 2021. Retrieved from Sixth Tone: http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006932/untangling-the-crossed-wires-of-chinas-super-grid
4 Zhao, Z., & et al. (2013). The emergence of the solar photovoltaic power industry in China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 21, 229-236.   DOI
5 Bazilian, M., Sovacool, B., & Moss, T. (2017). Rethinking Energy Statecraft: United States Foreign Policy and the Changing Geopolitics of Energy. Global Policy, 8(3), 422-425.   DOI
6 Blackwill, R. D., & Harris, J. M. (2016). War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
7 Blanchard, J.-M., & Ripsman, N. M. (2008). A Political Theory of Economic Statecraft. Foreign Policy Analysis, 371-398.
8 Scholten, D., & Bosman, R. (2016). The geopolitics of renewables; exploring the political implications of renewable energy systems. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 103, 273-283.   DOI
9 Hughes, L., & Gholz, E. (2016). Energy, Coercive Diplomacy, and Sanctions. In T. Van de Graaf, & et al, The Palgrave Handbook of the International Political Economy of Energy (pp. 487-504). Palgrave Macmillan.
10 IRENA. (2019). Future of Solar Photovoltaic: Deployment, investment, technology, grid integration and socio-economic aspects (A Global Energy Transformation: paper). Abu Dhabi: International Renewable Energy Agency.
11 State Council. (2020). Energy in China's New Era. The State Council of China. Retrieved from http://english.www.gov.cn/archive/whitepaper/202012/21/content_WS5fe0572bc6d0f725769423cb.html
12 Brautigam, D., & Tang, X. (2012). Economic statecraft in China's new overseas special economic zones: soft power, business or resource security? International Affairs, 88(4), pp. 799-816.   DOI
13 Cao, X., Rajarshi, A., & Tong, J. (2018). Technology Evolution of China's Export of Renewable Energy Products. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(1782), pp. 1-14.
14 Zhao, Y., & et al. (2019). Energy relations between China and the countries along the Belt and Road: An analysis of the distribution of energy resources and interdependence relationships. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 107, 133-144.   DOI
15 Zhang, S., & He, Y. (2013). Analysis on the development and policy of solar PV power in China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 21, 393-401.   DOI
16 Nurton, J. (2020). Patenting trends in renewable energy. WIPO Maganize. Retrieved from https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2020/01/article_0008.html
17 Nye, J. S. (2004). The Means to Success in World Politics. New York: Public Affairs.
18 Pascual, C. (2015). The New Geopolitics of Energy. Columbia / SIPA. Center on Global Energy Policy.
19 Scholten, D., Bazilian, M., Overland, I., & Westphal, K. (2020). The geopolitics of renewables: New board, new game. Energy Policy, 111059, 1-6.
20 Shen, W. (2017). Who drives China's renewable energy policies? Understanding the role of industrial corporations. Environmental Development, 21, 87-97.   DOI
21 Stegen, K. (2018). Redrawing the Geopolitical Map: International Relations and Renewable Energies. In D. Scholten, The Geopolitics of Renewables. Springer International Publishing.
22 Tan, X., & et al. (2013). China's overseas investment in the wind and solar industries: trends and drivers. Word Resources Institute.
23 Tsakiris, T. (2004). Energy Security Policy as Economic Statecraft: A Concise Historical Overview of the Last 100 Years. Ago Without Frontiers, 9(4).
24 Vakulchuk, R., Overland, I., & Scholten, D. (2020). Renewable energy and geopolitics: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 1-12.
25 Van de Graaf, T., & Sovacool, B. (2020). Global Energy Politics. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
26 Vasconcelos, D. (2019). Powering Up China's Grand Strategy: a case-study of China's use of renewables as instruments of energy statecraft in Brazil. Peking University (Master Dissertation).
27 Mastanduno, M. (1999). Economic Statecraft, Interdependence, and national security: Agendas for research. Security Studies, 9:1-2, 288-316.   DOI
28 BP. (2020). Country Insight - China. Retrieved from BP: https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/energy-outlook/country-and-regional-insights/china-insights.html
29 Stulberg, A. N. (2007). Well-Oiled Diplomacy: Strategic Manipulation and Russia's Energy Statecraft in Eurasia. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
30 Malkawi, B. (2020). China's raw materials strategy: The next chapter in the US-China rivalry? Retrieved from Policy Forum, Asia & the Pacific Policy Society: https://www.policyforum.net/chinas-raw-materials-strategy/
31 Mathews, J. A., & Tan, H. (2015). China's Renewable Energy Revolution. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
32 Norris, W. J. (2016). Chinese Economic Statecraft: Commercial Actors, Grand Strategy, and State Control. Ithaca, United States: Cornell University Press.
33 Drezner, D. W. (1997). Allies, Adversaries, and Economic Coercion: Russian Foreign Economic Policy Since 1991. Security Studies, 6(3), 65-111.   DOI
34 Cunningham, E. A. (2015). The State and the Firm: China's Energy Governance in Context. GEGI Working Paper.
35 Dalgaard, K. G. (2017). The Energy Statecraft of Brazil: The Rise and Fall of Brazil's Ethanol Diplomacy. Brasilia: Funag.
36 Dent, C. (2014). China's renewable energy development: policy, industry and business perspectives. Asia Pacific Business Review, 21(1), 26-43.   DOI
37 Dunford, M., & et al. (2012). Geographical Interdependence, international trade and economic dynamics: The Chinese and German solar energy industries. European Urban and Regional Studies, 20(1), 14-36.   DOI
38 Energy Charter Secretariat. (2017). China Investment Report. Brussels, Belgium: Energy Charter.
39 Ferry, J. (2021). Reclaiming the US Solar Supply Chain from China. Coalition for a Prosperous America.
40 Fan, W., & Hao, Y. (2020). An empirical research on the relationship amongst renewable energy consumption, economic growth and foreign direct investment in China. Renewable Energy, 146, 598-609.   DOI
41 IRENA. (2020a). Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2019. Abu Dhabi: International Renewable Energy Agency.
42 Baldwin, D. A. (1985). Economic Statecraft. Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press.
43 Ball, J., Reicher, D., Sun, X., & Pollock, C. (2017). The New Solar System: China's Evolving Solar Industry And Its Implications for Competitive Solar Power In the United States and the World. Stanford, Steyer-Taylor Center For Energy Policy and Finance.
44 Balmaceda, M. (2013). The politics of energy dependency : Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania between domestic oligarchs and Russian pressure. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
45 IRENA. (2020b). Renewable Energy Patents Evolution. Retrieved from International Renewable Energy Agency: https://www.irena.org/Statistics/View-Data-by-Topic/Innovation-and-Technology/Patents-Evolution
46 IRENA. (2021). Renewable Energy Capacity Statistics 2021. Abu Dhabi: International Renewable Energy Agency.
47 Jaffe, A. M. (2018). Green Giant: Renewable Energy and Chinese Power. Retrieved from Foreign Affairs: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2018-02-13/green-giant
48 Jordan, P. (2014). Solar Energy Markets: An Analysis of the Global Solar Industry. London, UK: Elsevier Inc.
49 Norris, W. J. (2010). Economic Statecraft with Chinese Characteristics: The Use of Commercial Actors in China's Grand Strategy. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D Thesis.
50 Xu, M., & Stanway, D. (2021). China doubles new renewable capacity in 2020; still builds thermal plants. Retrieved from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-energy-climatechange-idUSKBN29Q0JT.
51 Klement, J. (2021). Geo-Economics Chapter 8: The Geopolitics of Renewable Energy. 1-42.
52 Hirschman, A. O. (1980). National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade. Berkeley: University of California Press.
53 Hsiao, Y.-L., & et al. (2020). The contagious effect of China's energy policy on stock markets: The case of the solar photovoltaic industry. Renewable Energy, 164, 74-86.   DOI
54 IEA. (2019). China's share in global solar PV manufacturing and demand, 2006-2017. Retrieved from International Energy Agency: https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/chinas-share-in-global-solar-pv-manufacturing-and-demand-2006-2017
55 Vasconcelos, D. O. (2018). The Stumbling Blocks to China's Green Transition: How fast can China develop a "green, low carbon power system"? Retrieved from The Diplomat: https://thediplomat.com/2018/04/the-stumbling-blocks-to-chinas-green-transition/
56 O'Sullivan, M. L. (2013). The Entanglement of Energy, Grand Strategy, and International Security. In A. Goldthau, The Handbook of Global Energy Policy. Wiley-Blackwell.
57 Springer, C. (2020). Greening China's overseas energy projects. Retrieved from China Dialogue: https://chinadialogue.net/en/energy/greening-chinas-overseas-energy-projects/
58 USGS. (2020). Mineral Commodities Summaries 2020. Neston / Virginia, US: U.S. Geological Survey.
59 Wang, Y. (2014). A Review of Renewable Energy Legislation and Policies in China. In E. Moe, & P. Midford, The Political Economy of Renewable Energy and Energy Security: Common Challenges and National Responses in Japan, China and Northern Europe (pp. 197-220). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
60 Chen, S. (2012). State-Managed Marketization: The Role of the Chinese State in the Petroleum Industry. The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, 30(2), pp. 29-60.   DOI
61 China. (2013). Renewable Energy Law of the People's Republic of China. Retrieved from http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/article/policyrelease/Businessregulations/201312/20131200432160.shtml
62 Chiu, D. (2017). The East Is Green: China's Global Leadership in Renewable Energy. Retrieved from Center for Strategic and International Studies: https://www.csis.org/east-green-chinas-global-leadership-renewable-energy
63 Meidan, M., Andrews-Speed, P., & Qin, Y. (2021). Key Issues for China's 14th Five Year Plan. Oxford, UK: The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
64 Xi, J. (2020). Full text: Xi Jinping's speech at the General Debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Retrieved from CGTN: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-23/Full-text-Xi-Jinping-s-speech-at-General-Debate-of-UNGA-U07X2dn8Ag/index.html
65 Rapoza, K. (2021, March 14). How China's Solar Industry Is Set Up To Be The New Green OPEC. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2021/03/14/how-chinas-solar-industry-is-set-up-to-be-the-new-green-opec/?sh=2522099e1446
66 IEA. (2020). Solar PV module shipments by country of origin, 2012-2019. Retrieved from International Energy Agency: https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/solar-pv-module-shipments-by-country-of-origin-2012-2019