Policy Analysts Elizabeth Frost and Angela Glowacki of the Energy Resilience Program at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), together with Non-Resident Fellow Chia-Shen Tsai, recently contributed an article titled “Beijing’s Growing Power Over Global Gas Markets” to the Jamestown Foundation’s journal China Brief, examining China’s accelerating influence in global natural gas markets. The piece outlines how Beijing is employing a dual-track strategy—expanding both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline gas infrastructure—to enhance its geopolitical influence, with implications for global energy security and regional stability.
The authors highlight that China’s LNG re-exports surged nearly 770 percent from 2024 to 2025, signaling a shift from a traditional end-user to a more active market operator with the ability to redirect supplies. Through stockpiling, arbitrage, and re-exporting, Beijing can shape regional LNG price dynamics and maintain greater strategic maneuverability amid market fluctuations. China, now the world’s largest LNG importer, is also rapidly expanding storage capacity and its fleet of LNG carriers, further enhancing its supply flexibility.
The op-ed notes that China’s diversification of import sources is driven by several considerations: closing domestic supply gaps, securing competitive prices, responding to U.S.–China trade tensions, and deepening cooperation with overseas energy partners. Although domestic production has grown in recent years, maintaining a self-sufficiency rate of around 60 percent, demand has risen even more quickly, keeping China heavily dependent on both LNG and pipeline imports.
On pipeline gas, the authors review progress on the “Power of Siberia 2” project between China and Russia and underscore the continued importance of China’s Central Asian supply network, including cooperation with Turkmenistan. In 2024, China imported roughly 71 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas, primarily through the Central Asia A/B/C lines, the existing Power of Siberia pipeline, and the China–Myanmar pipeline.
The article also points to China’s recent purchases of Russian LNG, despite U.S. sanctions, as evidence that Beijing’s energy procurement decisions operate outside the bounds of U.S. sanctions frameworks. At the same time, the authors note that China remains cautious in its long-term cooperation with Russia. While Moscow is eager to secure new markets, Beijing continues to advance cooperation at a measured pace, diversifying sources and preserving flexibility to avoid overreliance on any single supplier.
