China counts on domestic resources for energy
In the East Asian Investment Forum, China Geological Survey Directorate under the Ministry of Land and Resources stated that China would overcome the energy bottleneck by tapping its own mineral resources. According to Zhang Hongttao, deputy director of the China Geological Survey, China has vast reserves yet to be discovered and exploited but the country needs the expertise and investment to locate and exploit them. In addition to making individual mining efforts, China is also expected to strengthen cooperation with other East Asian nations to build an energy security framework. Zhou Dadi, director of the energy research institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the same forum that cooperation projects should include the development of oil and gas resources, pipeline construction, fund-raising for energy projects, integrated energy policies and technology exchanges. China is known to have wide un-mined natural gas reserves in Xinjiang Uyghur region however, the country will need to spend billions of dollars to build pipelines in order to transfer the gas from the region to the rapidly developing eastern coastal provinces where it is needed. China already spent $5 billion to build nearly 4'000 km West to East gas pipeline from the Tarim Basin to its energy-hungry eastern provinces.