【英语中国】中国为何不愿承认是能源消费世界第一？

It's believed by some that China is headed for world dominance, but the country's leadership can be awfully uncomfortable about being top dog.

On Tuesday, China rushed to deny findings by the International Energy Agency that it has overtaken the U.S. as the world's largest energy consumer years ahead of earlier projections. 'By our calculation, the U.S. was still the world's largest energy user in 2009 [although] China was the largest primary energy producer,' Zeng Yachuan told Dow Jones Newswires.

Why is China reluctant to accept this crown? After all, it's already acknowledged as the world's leading source of carbon dioxide - the overwhelming bulk of which comes from burning coal in power plants and factories. It's on track to surpass Japan this year as the world's second largest economy after the U.S.

It's already the world's biggest car market and has the world's biggest population. A big economy with lots of people and more new cars and a rising middle class snapping up air conditioners and refrigerators adds up to a lot more kilojoules sooner or later.

It isn't the first time China has appeared somewhat sheepish about its global ascension. China's National Bureau of Statistics in the past has been slow to acknowledge China's rise up the global GDP rankings. And last year, when some U.S. scholars raised the idea of the world's two most important powers meeting to coordinate policy in a 'Group of Two,' Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao quickly shot down the idea.

The reluctance appears to flow from fear that China will be burdened with the responsibility of global leadership before it feels it is ready. Certainly, China's emergence as the world's top energy consumer is happening under very different circumstances than that of the U.S.

Historically, the world's biggest energy user tended to be the most dominant global power. But the U.S. - while certainly forced to accommodate China's growing strength - is still the world's biggest economy and has much more powerful military firmly entrenched across the globe.

China's rise hasn't given it more pricing power in global energy markets. Indeed, China is more often than not a price taker: When its economy rises, oil prices go up. And China's rise as the world's biggest energy consumer arguably leaves it actually more vulnerable than ever to factors it can't control: instability in the Middle East, piracy off the eastern shores of Africa, conflict in central Asia.

The U.S. has handled its energy interdependence with the rest of the world in part by projecting military and political power globally. At the same time that the U.S. has secured its energy supplies, it has also brought in allies under its protective military umbrella. The U.S. has also accepted that it can't own energy supplies and instead relies on a vast and complex international network of global traders from many different countries.

Accepting that China is No. 1 will force its leaders to start looking at addressing complicated questions about international diplomacy at a time when they'd rather focus on fixing things - like raising living standards - back home.

一些人认为中国即将称霸世界，但这个国家的领导层对于一些“世界第一”的称号却有可能极为不安。

Reuters中国说国际能源署高估了中国的二氧化碳排放量和能源消费量国际能源署(International Energy Agency)发现，中国已经取代美国，成为世界最大的能源消费国，这比早前的预测提前了几年。周二，中国急忙予以否认。国家能源局法规司司长曾亚川对道琼斯通讯社(Dow Jones Newswires)说，根据我们的计算，2009年美国仍是世界上最大的能源消费国，中国是最大的初级能源生产国。

中国为什么不愿意接受这个“世界第一”的称号呢？毕竟它已经承认自己是世界最大的二氧化碳排放国（绝大多数二氧化碳都来自于电厂和工厂煤炭的燃烧），而且很有可能就在今年超过日本，成为仅次于美国的世界第二大经济体。

中国已经是世界最大的汽车市场，并且拥有世界最多的人口。这样一个巨大的经济体，拥有大量人口，新汽车越来越多，崛起的中产阶级纷纷抢购空调和冰箱，它迟早会贡献出大量新的能源消耗量。

这不是中国第一次对自己全球地位的上升显得有些羞涩。在过去，国家统计局迟迟不肯承认中国在全球GDP排名中地位的上升。而在去年，当美国一些学者提出让世界最重要的两个国家在一种“G2”框架下协调政策时，中国总理温家宝很快否定了这个想法。

这种不情愿似乎是因为担心，中国会在它觉得还没有准备好的时候就挑上了领导全球的重担。无疑，中国在成为世界最大能源消费国之时，所处的环境与美国当初已经迥然不同。

在过去，世界最大能源消费国往往是全世界的领导者。虽然美国肯定是不得不适应中国实力的增强，但它仍是世界最大的经济体，其军事力量扎根全球，也比中国的军力强得多。

中国的崛起并没有让它在国际能源市场获得更多定价权。事实上，中国在更多的时候只是被动地接受别人制定的价格，比如当中国经济上升的时候，石油价格就跟着走高。而中国成为世界最大能源消费国，可以说让它比以往更加容易受到那些不可受其掌控的因素的影响，比如中东局势不稳，非洲东海岸附近的海盗活动，中亚地区的冲突等。

美国在一定程度上是通过在全世界布置军事和政治力量，来应对它与世界其他地方的能源依存关系的。美国在获得能源供应的同时，也将其盟国庇护于它的军事羽翼之下。美国还承认，它不拥有能源供应渠道，而是依赖于一个庞大而复杂的全球交易商网络来供应能源，而这些交易商来自很多个不同的国家。

如果承认中国是“世界第一”，那么领导人们就会开始想法处理国际外交上的一些复杂问题，而此时他们宁愿侧重于国内问题的解决，如怎样提高生活水平。