China and India’s Foreign Energy Policy: “Great Game”, “Mutual Benefit” or “Parallel Independence”

　　Abstract：In recent years, the nineteenth century term “Great Game” has once again risen to prominence in describing the international energy scene, Western analysts have frequently argued that the competition between China and India in oil and natural gas procurement constitutes one of the two primary causes for the upward pressure on oil prices; the other being the speculation and trading of oil fields. This article seek to overturn the first of these simplified explanations by exploring cases of China and India’s competition, cooperation and independent energy pursuits. The article compares the empirical cases of supposedly “conflict”in Angola, Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Burmaand “cooperation”in Syria, Sudan, Iran and Venezualaagainst those of relative “independence”in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Brazil, Yemen and United Arab Emirates to raise important questions about conventional interpretations of the relationship between the two states. Rather than competing or cooperating, both countries exhibited greater tendencies to operate independent of each other in their pursuit to satisfy their respective energy needs. Energy companies from these two countries are for the most part acting within the bounds of market rules. The multilateral energy network that is gradually enmeshing the two countries is also offering hopes for greater cooperation; a“Great Game” is hardly a necessary consequence Keywords