How does China manage its energy market? A perspective of policy evolution

Abstract

Since reform and opening up, energy policy has been effectively used by the Chinese government for managing its energy market. In order to reveal how China manages its energy market, this study collected more than two thousand policy documents promulgated by Chinese government in the past 40 years, i.e., 1978–2018, through data mining. The evolution and structure of China's energy policy intensity, policy tools, and policy targets in the past 40 years were analyzed. The results show that: (1) from 1978 to 2018, China's policy-making departments are gradually strengthening their management of the nation's energy market and the coordination between them has been significantly enhanced. As an effective measure for managing energy market, laws did not get enough attentions it deserves from policy-making departments; (2) it seems that China likes to influence the operation of its energy market by implementing indirect guidance policies, which did not directly affect industrial supply and demand. With the continuous promotion of supply-side structural reform, policies focusing on supply guarantee are growing; (3) the target of China's energy policies used to be the promotion of the industrialization of its energy industry. Nowadays, more attentions are paid to promote high-quality growth by encouraging research and development.