CRI听力：China Sticks to Sustainable Energy Development

China will continue to stick to sustainable development of energy consumption, and will seek new and clean resources to diversify its energy reserve.

In an interview with CRI, Sun Qin, Deputy Director of the newly-founded State Energy Administration said China will further improve energy efficiency by relying on domestic supply. Our reporter Lin Lin has more.

Developing countries such as China have contributed a lot to the world economy in recent years. However, their increasing energy demand has aroused anxiety among some developed countries and international organizations, who feared that such demand has caused the current oil price hikes.

Sun Qin refuted the blame that China is the main driver for the surging oil prices, saying that it is the speculation that triggers the increase.

"The current high oil prices are not caused by China's oil demand. China's oil consumption in 2005 was lower than that of 2004, but still oil prices kept surging in the same year. There are complicated reasons behind oil price hikes, such as regional conflicts, unbalanced supply and demand, and most importantly, speculation and fear of energy shortage."(wwW.hxen.net)

Although China's energy demand is on the rise, Sun Qin stressed that China mainly relies on domestic supplies, so it's posing no threat to the global market.

"It's true that China has a great demand for energy consumption in general, but we have low energy consumption per capita. Meanwhile, we've been relying on ourselves for more than 90 percent of our energy supplies. So we can say that China has made great contribution to the world economy by saving energy consumption."

The offical pointed out like many other countries, China is concerned with problems such as insufficient energy supplies and strives for sustainable energy development. The Chinese government has worked out plans to find a balance between the country's economic development and healthy energy consumption. For instance, China will try to improve energy efficiency by adjusting consumption framework, like converting coals into clean energies.

Early this year, a new government department, the State Energy Administration was established to be in charge of energy policies. Sun Qin indicated part of the new job his department will be involved is on international communications so that it can work with other countries to tackle the comnon challenges.

"We've introduced many advanced technologies into China to help reduce greenhouse gas emission. We are also cooperating with other countries to build a stable international oil market to ensure oil supplies. As a responsible country, China is making due efforts to combat the energy problem."

To encourage exploration of new and renewable energy, the government is providing low-interest loans and tax incentives for such projects. In addition, joint ventures on new resources,such as solar and wind power are given favorable policies.