CHINA’S energy supply system has withstood the tests of the COVID-19 epidemic and major natural disasters, and effectively cushioned the impact of volatile international energy prices, an official said yesterday.

China’s energy supply system has improved over the past decade, with a self-sufficiency rate exceeding 80%, Ren Jingdong, deputy director of the National Energy Administration, said at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Stressing China’s role as a major energy producer and consumer, Ren vowed more efforts to safeguard energy security.

China will give full play to coal as the ballast stone in the energy mix and enhance oil and gas exploration and development, he said. The goal is to raise the annual overall energy production capacity to over 4.6 billion metric tons of standard coal by 2025.

In the long run, China will comprehensively build a clean energy supply system covering wind power, solar power, hydropower, and nuclear power, he said. “We will work to ensure that the share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption rises to around 20% by 2025 and 25% by 2030.”

Meanwhile, China has been improving its capability of ensuring food security over the past decade, with higher annual grain output and stable market operation, an official said.

With a sound food security situation, “China has guaranteed that its food supply remains firmly in its own hands,” Cong Liang, head of the State Grain and Reserves Administration, told the press conference.

China’s grain output has stayed above 650 million metric tons for seven solid years. In 2021, the figure hit a new high of 682.85 million metric tons.

As evidence of the capability of ensuring food security, China’s farmland totals 128 million hectares, its standard warehouses boast 700 million tons of grain storage capacity, and the number of emergency-responding grain processing enterprises reaches 6,000.  (Xinhua)