K J M Varma

Beijing, Apr 14 (PTI) A high-ranking Chinese official has publicly admitted for the first time that his country is on the verge of overtaking the United States to become the globe's biggest energy consumer.

The world's second-largest economy has been under mounting pressure to transform its economic development pattern, further improve energy efficiency and diversify its energy-supply mix, said Ding Zhimin, deputy director-general of China's Policy and Law Department of the National Energy Administration.

"As there are no final statistics (for energy consumption), we are still the second-biggest energy consumer.

But very soon we will take first place," he was quoted by state-run China Daily as saying at a panel discussion at the European Parliament organised by the Beijing-based Europe-China Clean Energy Centre in Brussels.

It's the first time that a Chinese official has publicly admitted that the country will soon overtake the US, the Daily said.