【By Liu Bai, Observers Network】"From Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa to Kiribati and Tonga in the Pacific, China's leading position as the world's first major power kingdom is increasingly strengthening, and its influence is beginning to show."
The UK's Financial Times published an article on October 10 lamenting that Chinese companies have already taken a dominant position in multiple clean energy technology industries such as solar panels, electric vehicles, and wind turbines. Chinese clean energy technologies provide significant opportunities for energy transition in developing countries.
Some scholars stated directly that China's attitude towards this transformation is very firm, once it has determined a direction, it almost never turns back. Some experts also stated directly that the U.S. government has not yet realized how popular Chinese technology is. As Chinese companies continue to occupy the markets vacated by American companies, the clean energy sector may eventually face disputes similar to those surrounding 5G and Huawei. However, at that time, the U.S. will lose support from Europe, and there will be few alternative solutions available.
Data from France's Natixis Bank and the UK's climate and energy think tank Ember shows that in 2024, China's solar panel exports reached 236 gigawatts (GW), more than three times that of 2019, and it is expected to set another record high this year. Ember's research data also showed that in the 12 months ending in June this year, the total amount of Chinese-made solar panels imported into Africa exceeded 15 gigawatts, an increase of 60% compared to the previous 12 months.
Dhala Solar Thermal Power Station in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai, captured from the air, shining brilliantly under sunlight. Visual China
However, these data only highlight one of the many clean energy technology industries where China currently holds a dominant position.
The similar surge in Chinese clean energy technology exports is also evident in areas such as electric vehicles, electric trucks, batteries, wind turbines, gas turbines, small nuclear reactors, and other key transmission equipment required for modern power grids.
Tim Buckley, director of the Australian institution "Climate Energy Finance," which mainly studies related issues in China, said that China's long-term ambitions in the clean energy field are "far-reaching," forming a sharp contrast with its superpower rival, the United States: President Trump supports the fossil fuel industry and canceled the previous administration's support policies for renewable energy.
"I believe China is seizing this opportunity in a highly geopolitically wise manner, fully utilizing the U.S.'s foolishly regressing to a petroleum state," he added, "China is the winner. The U.S. has voluntarily given up the competitive stage."
The article states that, in a way, China's move toward electrification and its development in dominating clean energy technology industries is impressive.
In a report released by Ember in September, a series of data highlighted the vigorous development of China's clean energy and electrification.
This includes: In 2023, China's investment in clean energy reached $625 billion, accounting for nearly one-third of global investments; in the same year, the contribution of clean energy to China's economy reached $190 billion, about one-tenth of China's GDP, equivalent to the entire size of Australia's economy.
The pace of China's electrification is also worth noting. In 2023, China's electrification rate had reached 32%, and it increased by about 1 percentage point annually; over the past decade, the electrification rates in Europe and the United States have remained stagnant.
Combining these achievements, analysts call China the world's first important "Power Kingdom," a global manufacturing superpower, whose industries increasingly rely on electricity rather than fossil fuels, and whose economy is driven by clean energy technologies.
China's energy transition has been recognized by environmental organizations. Christoph Nedopil Wang, a Chinese energy and finance expert at Griffith University in Australia, further emphasized that there are deep strategic considerations behind China's efforts to decarbonize.
"First, this can consolidate China's position as the global manufacturing center in the era of clean energy; second, it can address a core weakness, which is the dependence on imported fossil fuels," he said, "China's attitude toward this transformation is very firm. Once it determines a direction and takes action, it almost never turns back."
For many developing countries, China's abundant clean energy technologies not only provide an opportunity to escape reliance on fossil fuels but also create conditions for them to develop new manufacturing industries based on low-cost electricity.
However, China still faces many complex problems on its path to becoming a "Power Kingdom," one of the core challenges being reducing coal use in power generation and heat production in heavy industries such as steel and cement.
David Fishman, an energy analyst at The Lantau Group in Shanghai, said that Chinese policymakers and engineers are investing "a lot of effort" to tackle the challenges of industrial electrification.
"They are addressing every electrifiable and hard-to-decarbonize part of heavy industry," he said, "Sometimes it's just a simple process change, requiring investment for equipment upgrades; but sometimes it involves highly advanced technology, requiring pilot verification, and the difficulty is very high."
The article also believes that China can shape itself as a long-term reliable partner through its dominant position in clean energy technology, providing developing countries with an alternative choice other than the United States.
Illaria Mazzocco, an industry policy expert at the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), pointed out that as Chinese clean energy technology companies become increasingly entrenched in the markets vacated by American companies, this will have far-reaching geopolitical implications.
"This situation could eventually evolve into disputes similar to those around 5G and Huawei, but by then, the U.S. will have lost European support, and the available alternative choices will be fewer," Mazzocco said, "In fact, I think the U.S. government has not truly realized how popular these new energy and power technologies exported by China are."
Regarding the "reversal" measures of the Trump administration that slashed clean energy spending, renowned New York Times columnist and author of "The World Is Flat," Thomas Friedman, wrote an article lamenting, "Can you hear it? It's the loud roar from the East, the laughter of 1.4 billion Chinese people at us."
He criticized the "Big and Beautiful Act" that "heavily hit" the clean energy industry, saying, "The Chinese can't believe their luck: Just as the AI era with huge electricity consumption is about to begin, the president and his party have made one of the most severe strategic self-harm actions imaginable." "Trump handed over the future of American electricity to China."
Friedman's and other Western media's sentiments are not surprising.
Data from the National Energy Administration show that in the first five months of this year alone, China added 196 million kilowatts of new photovoltaic installations, a 57% increase compared to the previous year. The installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation has historically exceeded 100 million kilowatts, reaching 108 million kilowatts, equivalent to the total capacity of about 48 Three Gorges Power Stations.
According to the "Global Offshore Wind Market Outlook" and "Global Wind Energy Report" released by the 2025 Offshore Wind Power Conference on June 20, China's wind power installation has been growing rapidly this year, with wind power generation accounting for over 12% of the total. By 2030, global offshore wind power capacity is expected to exceed 230 gigawatts, with China's deep-sea projects becoming a core growth point for international cooperation.
The UK's Guardian also noted that particularly this year, China's expansion of renewable energy has not slowed down. In the first five months, China added 19.8 gigawatts of solar and 4.6 gigawatts of wind power, enough to generate electricity equivalent to the entire national output of Indonesia or Turkey, with the capacity added in May alone equivalent to Poland's total power generation.
"We have always known that China is accelerating the installation of wind and solar power, but we were still shocked by the speed," said Lauri Myllyvirta, senior researcher at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
This article is an exclusive work of Observers Network, and it is not allowed to be reprinted without authorization.
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