After years of self sufficiency, China has become a net importer of oil. This evolution creates an increasing feeling of vulnerability toward the outside world. The main discourses on energy is founded on a 'security' and balance of power analysis: there is a stress on the illusionary will to control sources of supply by building 'privileged' relationships, rather than participating to an energy framework on a multilateral and cooperative basis. The way China is trying to deal with the energy issue is a good tool for evaluating the degree that China is integrating into the regional or global post cold-war system. It is in this framework that the energy components of the Sino-Japanese relationship, and its influence on relations with third significant parties like Russia, must be analyzed.

Valérie Niquet, Director of the Centre asie ifri, is a Professor at the Collège interarmées de défense (CID-École militaire) where she teaches Geopolitics of China. Sinologist and Japonologist, with a Ph. D in Political Science, and Translator of major works of the Chinese strategic thought, she is a specialist in the strategic and military issues in Asia.