Energy is seen along side variables including currency, domestic interest rates and the Taiwan stand-off as the dominating agenda in the immediate and medium terms, according to Dr David K P Li, chairman and CEO of the Bank of East Asia.

Li delivered a keynote address before 27 Hong Kong-based CEOs and opinion leaders at a roundtable conference co-organised by China Daily, Asia News Network and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation at the Conrad Hotel.

``With energy demand rising in step with China's remarkable economic growth,

China now must deal with the hard truth that it faces a widening energy deficit," Li said in his remarks.

He said China was still a net exporter of oil as recently as 1995, but the country surpassed Japan to become the world's second largest importer of oil within the past two years.

China's growth in primary energy demand among the four most energy intensive nations - China, US Japan and Russia has doubled over the past 18 years. The Energy Information Administration, a unit of the US Department of Energy, predicts that China's demand for energy will double again by 2020.