The energy triangle of Japan, China and Russia: the political economics of Tokyo, Beijing and the East Siberian pipeline

In the 1970s and 1980s, economic relations between Japan and China were based on energy commodities, beginning the phase of '(Japanese) technology for (Chinese) oil'. By the beginning of the 1990s, Japan had changed priorities in energy needs and aimed to wean off dependence on oil to less than 50% of its overall energy needs so Sino-Japanese political economic ties moved onto a new plateau of high-value added manufacturing activities. Raw materials that were much needed by the booming Japanese economy in the 1970s and 1980s are similarly needed by the buoyant Chinese economy since the 1990s. In this aspect, Russia's (a common neighbour of both Japan and China) commodity industry has attracted Japanese and Chinese attention in the minerals extraction industry, particularly in the commodity of oil. Based on competitive needs, Russia, Japan and China are now part of an emerging triangular energy relationship, both competitive and cooperative.