China’s energy security: the impact on China’s foreign policy and the international order

This thesis explores the topic of China’s rise through evaluating the impact of the rising China on the present international order. This is done through examining China’s foreign policy aimed at energy supply security and its effect on the institutions of the international order, as well as the Sino-US relationship. The thesis shows that China’s oil supply related foreign policy is overwhelmingly strategic in nature, and this creates more competition than cooperation while also causing a number of controversies in relation to the character of the rising China within this international order and its impact on it. The research results tend to support a more realist perspective as they show that China’s expanding foreign policy has been undermining key norms and values of the present international order for the sake of securing its key national interests. China’s relationship with the US has not become more cooperative but has been undermined by distrust which has resulted in China engaging in soft-power balancing vis-à-vis the US.\n