MOSCOW, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Leaders of the 16 countries that attended Monday's East Asia Summit in Cebu, the Philippines, have signed an agreement to promote energy security and find alternatives to conventional fuels. The agreement was signed by the 10 member nations of ASEAN, as well as China, Japan, New Zealand, India, South Korea and Australia.
The Cebu Declaration on East Asian Energy Security lists a series of goals aimed at providing "reliable, adequate and affordable" energy supplies to a huge region from Australia to India. Notably, the signatories are attempting to lessen their dependence on oil from the Middle East.
Russia, which aims to become a major strategic supplier of oil and gas for both Europe and the Asia Pacific region, is a key player in this energy security game, especially for China and Japan. Both countries may become heavily dependent on Russia's energy supplies; the two are still competing for a Russian pipeline that will eventually deliver the bulk of oil extracted from deposits in Russia's Eastern Siberia either to the Chinese mainland or to Japanese sea ports.
However, Asian energy consumers, first of all in Japan, may be concerned over recent developments at the Sakhalin 2 oil and gas project. An attempt by Russia's state-owned Gazprom to take control of the foreign-invested project last month, citing Russian environmental regulations, is viewed as monopolistic and an attempt to use energy supplies as a political tool.
Similar situations that arose recently in Europe -- the Russo-Ukrainian conflict over the price of gas supplies, and the latest incident of the same type involving Russia and Belarus, -- prompted concerns in Europe as to whether Russia is a reliable energy supplier. The European Commission was urgently tasked to draft a new European Energy Security Concept, which may resemble the document adopted at the East Asian summit.
Coming back to the Cebu Declaration -- dependency on certain energy suppliers was not the only energy security threat considered. Greenhouse gas emissions from Asian nations are forecast to grow rapidly in the coming years, with one estimate saying they could treble by 2025. The declaration does not set any targets for capping greenhouse emissions, but calls for extra investment in eco-friendly fuels.
The summit was also marked by an improvement in relations between regional rivals China and Japan. Japan, China and South Korea held their first three-way meeting in two years, faced with the need to coordinate possible action against North Korea and urging Pyongyang to end its nuclear program and seek a stronger trading relationship with its neighbors.
Multilateral trade and economic arrangements may force the North Korean regime to become more open and transparent, and more involved in regional cooperative projects. Notably these may include plans to construct a regional electricity grid and a natural oil and gas pipeline through the Korean peninsula and across Northeast Asia.
In view of the Cebu Declaration, these promising and very probable developments may be seen as good opportunities for Russia to fulfill its role as a great energy power, rather than threats to Russian economic and geopolitical interests.
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(Vladimir Petrovsky is president of the Russian National Peace Council. He is also coordinator for foreign policy studies of the Russian Political Science Association and a member of the academic board of Russia's Academy of Diplomatic Services.)
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(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)
