China on Tuesday set up a taskforce to draft a law on energy,
government sources said on Wednesday.
The taskforce, which includes officials from 15 government
departments or the national legislature, is headed by Ma Kai,
minister in charge of the National
Development and Reform Commission and director of the National
Energy Office, which was established on June 2, 2005.
A panel of experts specialized in energy, law, economics and
public management have been recruited as advisors, sources with the
commission said.
"The complicated and changing international environment poses
new challenges to the country's energy and economic security," the
taskforce said in a statement.
Coal remains the mainstay of China's energy supply, together
with electricity, oil, natural gas and renewable energy
resources.
But China still does not have a law that reflects its energy
strategy and policy orientation, and that regulates the structure
of various energy products and energy-related activities, the
statement read.
China is in urgent need of formulating such a basic,
comprehensive law on energy to ensure national economic security,
energy exploitation and international energy cooperation, and to
streamline the energy reserve system and emergency response
mechanism.
Such a law will help build China into a country that is energy
efficient and environmentally friendly through optimizing its
energy structure, improving energy efficiency and promoting clean
production, and forming an economic growth mode characterized by
low input, low energy consumption, low pollution and high
efficiency.
The law will also help improve work safety in energy
production.
(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2006)