The financial rating agency Moody's revealed that China is assigning growing strategic importance to essential companies to ensure energy security, in a context of geopolitical tensions and expansion of sectors with high electricity consumption, such as artificial intelligence, data centers, electric vehicles and advanced manufacturing. The agency warned of the risks arising from strong dependence on imported fuels and traditional energy infrastructure, noting that, before the Middle East conflict, about 45% of China's oil and gas imports passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Given this reality, Beijing is expanding the concept of strategic sectors beyond fuels, energy producers and electricity grid operators, now also including critical minerals, nuclear equipment, energy storage and infrastructure construction. Among the companies that could benefit from this strategy, Moody's highlighted the energy infrastructure group PowerChina, the electric vehicle battery manufacturer CATL, the mining group Minmetals and Shanghai Electric Holdings, one of the few Chinese manufacturers of nuclear equipment. The agency noted, however, that traditional oil, gas, electricity production and electricity grid companies remain fundamental for fuel security and system reliability.
Energy security has gained particular importance for China since the start of the war in Iran. In April, weeks after the beginning of attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran and Tehran's subsequent reprisals, the Chinese Communist Party leadership called for improved energy and resource security and preparation for disruptions from abroad. The de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz particularly affected Asia, causing a rise in fuel prices in China and leading authorities to intervene temporarily, limiting increases to about half of what would result from the usual calculation mechanism.
This week, China's installed solar energy capacity surpassed, for the first time, that of coal, marking a significant shift in the transformation of the country's electrical system. At the same time, Chinese exports of green technologies, sectors in which the country holds a dominant global position, including solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles, have surged in recent weeks amid the global impact of rising oil prices.
