China and East Asian Energy: Prospects and Issues

Adequate supplies of natural resources have always been preconditions for economic growth. The requirements for energy and metallic mineral resources have been larger and more obvious with the modern economic growth that began in parts of the North Atlantic in the 18th century and has made its main home in East Asia in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Energy is a major and essential input to all economic activity, including food production, manufacturing and transportation. Along with growth in the amount of energy used in the process of economic development there have been changes in the form in which energy is utilised – a shift both in the sources of energy and in the transformations through which the energy sources pass as they are converted into economically valuable goods and services (Rosenberg 2000). The availability and price of energy are closely related to the long-term evolution of economic structure (MacKellar and Vining 1987).