Energy Security Analysis of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan: A Mix Model Framework

Daniel Yasin

doi:10.2478/vjeas-2021-0004

Abstract

Abstract Current energy consumption and how to mitigate the negative environmental effects alongside rising demand have become prominent issues in everyday discourse. Following this trend, the topic of energy security too has stepped back into the spotlight. This article aims to analyse the energy security situation of three East Asian countries, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. All three countries feature similar predicaments, being overly reliant on imports, having minuscule natural reserves, and also being high-tech and service-based economies. In this article the author attempts to determine similarities and differences from an energy security perspective. In order to assess these countries, a framework is created with thirty-five distinct indicators relating to energy security. Each indicator is then systematically compared with each of the three countries. The results are then presented in a table and with graphs to illustrate a comparison of each country’s values. Through these results, the largest differences can be observed in energy efficiency and diversification of energy supply. The concluding remarks offer possible avenues for further studies and deliberate on lessons to be learned from these results.

Highlights

Energy has come to the forefront as one of the main issues of the twenty-first century, as news media, academia, corporations, politicians, and citizens are engaged in discussions of climate change and global warming
One effect of this turn to “green” energy is the decrease in dependency from energy imports, mitigating risks posed from disruptions to energy supplies (Ölz, Sims, and Kirchner 2007: 5)
The talks regarding Nord Stream 2, an additional pipeline between Russia and Germany, have sparked uncertainty in neighbouring countries, as they fear that Russia would be able to threaten supply cuts to Eastern Europe and use it as leverage without affecting supply to Germany

Summary

Introduction

Energy has come to the forefront as one of the main issues of the twenty-first century, as news media, academia, corporations, politicians, and citizens are engaged in discussions of climate change and global warming. In Germany, renewable energy already accounted for the largest share of energy production in 2018, and China has become the leader in renewable capacity (Eckert 2019; IEA 2017: 3) One effect of this turn to “green” energy is the decrease in dependency from energy imports, mitigating risks posed from disruptions to energy supplies (Ölz, Sims, and Kirchner 2007: 5). According to the Working Group on Asian Energy and Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, energy security is built on three main tenets It entails the reduction of foreign threats, prevention of supply crises, and minimising the effects of occurring supply crises (Lind 1997; Von Hippel et al 2011: 6720). This has led to sanction warnings from the United States (Dettmer 2019; Gurzu 2019)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion