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  • Shedding Light on the Study of Energy Security
  • Wojtek M. Wolfe (bio)
Elizabeth C. Economy and Michael Levi’s By All Means Necessary: How China’s Resource Quest Is Changing the World New York: Oxford University Press, 2014 ISBN: 978-0-19-992178-2 (hardcover)

Combining their expertise on the politics of China and energy policy, Elizabeth Economy and Michael Levi have produced an excellent book that gives China security and energy policy analysts an up-to-date perspective on the growing body of literature in these fields. By All Means Necessary: How China’s Resource Quest Is Changing the World is a genuinely rare book for two reasons: First, it provides outstanding depth while examining wide-ranging topics on China’s energy trade, mineral acquisition, cross-border water issues, and acquisition strategies. Second, the book is a welcome contribution to the field because its analysis of complex issues maintains a high level of objectivity on policy topics easily politicized. Economy and Levi’s high standard of research and analysis is evident throughout each of the book’s distinct focus areas examining China’s energy-seeking activities.

China’s quest for resources has become difficult to ignore as it has increased in intensity over the past two decades, drawing greater international attention to the country’s questionable choices of energy trading partners and escalation of tensions in the South China Sea. In keeping with the objective and balanced nature of the book, Economy and Levi argue that while China’s actions are not entirely benign, many “pundits, scholars, and policy makers have too often blown China’s resource quest and its consequences out of proportion with reality” (p. 8). The authors find that China’s tactics do not differ greatly from previous attempts by other states to satisfy growing energy demand, though they do concede that Beijing’s strategy has and continues to create political challenges for its neighbors and the United States. The future of these strategies rests in Beijing’s guidance and in the institutions tasked with carrying out energy-seeking activities. Throughout By All Means Necessary, Economy and Levi ask how China’s natural resource quest is changing the world and if China itself is being changed as it seeks various forms of energy security. These are important questions, and the book examines each area of resource exploration with an in-depth understanding of the industries and politics involved in China’s resource-acquisition process. [End Page 174]

The book places China’s resource quest in a historical context that helps observers better understand Beijing’s unwillingness to fully embrace international energy markets, commodity exchanges, and resource interdependence with the West. The authors’ historical narrative provides insights on China’s contemporary energy security strategy. China’s past international trade experience and the “unequal treaties” of the 1800s made the country inherently biased against global markets, which helps explain the recent leadership’s cautious attitude about increasing market dependence. By All Means Necessary makes note of the divide between Beijing’s early hopes for energy independence and the geoeconomic realities facing rising powers. Fortunately, China’s leadership has been coming to grips with those realities, evidenced by its steadily rising dependence on Western-backed international energy markets and sea lanes.

Economy and Levi point out that China’s nationally owned energy companies have been increasing their knowledge of corporate social responsibility norms and practices, which may help them seek more profitable and less risky investments in the future. As the authors observe, such practices must begin at home, because they influence the quality of governance that China exports to resource-rich states. In her work on this issue, Erica Downs has also noted that China’s national oil companies have been slowly gaining the necessary international experience and attracting business talent with the skills needed to avoid the politically and economically risky investments that have led to significant financial losses while damaging these companies’ reputations among future trading partners.

Energy trade typically consumes a small percentage of a country’s trade balance, and China is no exception to this rule. Despite this economic reality, energy and resource trading strikes a strong chord among pundits and politicians alike. Some...

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