Measuring China’s oil import security with a multi-dimensional approach from the perspective of external suppliers

China has been the world’s second largest oil consumer and importer for several years; though many studies have focused on China’s energy security, few have examined it from the perspective of external suppliers. This study provides a group of indicators to assess the reliability of China’s 37 oil-importing sources over the period 1995-2018 based on the perspective of external suppliers. These indicators are made up of four dimensions: energy availability, political status, economic status, and energy transportation. Then, an index was created based on the reliability of the oil-importing sources and their corresponding shares in China’s total oil imports, to evaluate China’s oil import security. The results show that, for China, the members of Commonwealth of Independent States, the Asia-Pacific region, and American countries are more reliable oil suppliers than Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Besides, energy availability and energy transportation are the main threats to China’s oil import security. Based on these conclusions, this study suggests that China should increase its internal energy supply and control the growth of energy consumption to reduce its dependence on oil imports, diversify its energy importing sources and transportation routes, and implement energy-focused diplomatic policies and activities to enhance its oil import security.