As the Middle East conflict and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz drive up energy costs and unsettle global markets, Chinese commentary is presenting China as an alternative energy supplier and a partner in international energy cooperation.
Writing for Guancha, Zhou Yanzhi argues that the crisis has unexpectedly created an opportunity for China’s new energy industry to attract international attention. Across Chinese commentary and social media, three arguments recur: China is resilient to external energy shocks, its domestic energy system can remain stable during periods of disruption, and it could become an alternative energy supplier in the years ahead.
Building the foundations of an energy alternative
The commentary highlights China’s investment in a new power grid to integrate renewables and improve grid resilience. Virtual power plants, AI forecasting and large-scale energy storage are among the technologies being deployed. Investment in the national grid is expected to exceed RMB 5 trillion (approximately US$ 704 billion) during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030). Chinese commentary identifies three priorities for the period: building a new energy system, developing a new power system, and establishing a unified national electricity market.
Chinese experts describe a shift in which renewables move from a supplementary role towards becoming a main source of electricity. Li Qionghui, chief expert of the China Energy Research Society, said that China’s new energy is shifting from supplementary energy to mainstay energy, but integrating more wind and solar power remains a challenge. Li noted that the flexible regulation of China’s power system mainly relies on coal-fired power. Wang Zhixuan, deputy director of the expert committee of the China Electricity Council, added that increasing coal-fired power capacity does not equate to increasing coal-fired power generation. The challenge, as these experts frame it, is to expand renewables while retaining coal-fired capacity to stabilise the grid.
Chinese reporting also sees rising fuel costs as an opportunity for the country’s electric vehicle industry. Writing for Guancha, Pan Yuchen argues that the Middle East conflict is giving China’s new energy vehicle industry an unexpected boost. New energy vehicles accounted for 66.7 per cent of retail passenger car sales in the first week of June 2026. None of China’s 10 best-selling models in May was petrol-powered. Chinese brands also accounted for around 70 per cent of global new energy vehicle sales in 2025.
A Weibo post linked the oil crisis to China’s longer-term effort to reduce dependence on oil. It argued that high prices encourage a shift towards electric vehicles and clean electricity, while better energy storage could accelerate the transition. The post identified storage as a remaining bottleneck and predicted that oil will increasingly be used for chemical production rather than fuel.
Another Weibo post cast the crisis as an opportunity for China’s energy industry to expand overseas. It pointed to rising demand for Chinese solar panels, storage systems and electric vehicles, as well as Chinese companies’ growing role in renewable energy projects abroad. Its argument was that China is moving beyond equipment exports to providing complete energy solutions.
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Energy security without vulnerability
Chinese commentary has also focused on the country’s ability to withstand external energy disruptions. Lu Ruquan, Director of the Economic and Technological Research Institute of PetroChina Group, argued that the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz had shaken the nerves of global energy. He said that while China remains sensitive to energy security risks, it is not fragile. Its resilience, he explained, rests on three pillars: substantial domestic energy production, large strategic reserves, and an extensive overseas energy presence.
This view is also seen in Chinese social media commentary, which presents China as a relative winner in the current energy crisis. One Weibo post argued that China’s long-term energy strategy has helped it prepare for the disruption caused by the Middle East conflict.
Chinese reporting also presents the country’s diversified energy system as a key source of resilience. He Jijiang, executive deputy director of the Center for Energy Transition and Social Development at the School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, describes China’s mix of coal, oil, gas, nuclear power, hydropower, wind and solar as the foundation of its ability to withstand external disruptions. Xu Chuanbo, associate professor at North China Electric Power University, makes a similar point, arguing that the coordination of thermal power, energy storage, ultra-high-voltage grids and renewable energy has helped China maintain a stable electricity supply despite geopolitical shocks.
Chinese discourse presents the energy crisis as both a test of China’s resilience and an opening to expand its role in global energy markets. It portrays China as capable of withstanding external disruptions and maintaining domestic energy stability, while positioning its new energy industry as a potential supplier of technologies and solutions to other countries. The underlying message is that every crisis presents an opportunity, and that this one could help strengthen China’s position in the future of global energy.
Sana Hashmi, PhD, is a fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation and George HW Bush Foundation for US-China Relations. She tweets @sanahashmi1. Views are personal.