Abstract: Legal mechanism of energy cooperation is a cooperation mode under which related parties work together for high efficiency of national energy cooperation through negotiation, which is guaranteed by the agreement between energy cooperation and legal mechanism. Energy cooperation between China and the Central Asian nations is well grounded and promising with the Central Asian nations being the key areas in international energy cooperation and the strategic source and channel of China's oil and gas import and energy security. However, China's energy investment in and cooperation with the Central Asian nations are at geopolitical risks and market volatility, which has created a bottleneck for further development of regional cooperation. In this context, we must take the opportunities brought by the “Belt and Road” development to promote regional cooperation and construct the legal mechanism of China-Central Asia energy cooperation by adopting the effective practice in international energy cooperation.

Key words: China, Central Asia, energy cooperation, legal mechanism, energy security