China’s Foreign Economic Policy

The intent of this course is to give a broad understanding of the course of Chinese foreign economic policy since the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949 as well as to take a more intensive look at some of the major problems in Chinese foreign economic policy in the contemporary period. Our aim is to understand the international problems that China has faced, how it has conceptualized those problems, and how it has tried to deal with them.

In looking at Chinese foreign economic policy, we will attempt to assess how “rational” it has been. Has China based its foreign economic policy on a stable and well-defined sense of China’s national interest or has it viewed the world through Marxist-Leninist ideological lenses? Most of the second half of the course is devoted to understanding China’s international behavior in the contemporary period, including its emergence as a major economic power, its situation as an Asian and global actor, and its difficult and complex relationship with other big powers.

Thus, one question we will raise is that of continuity and change in China’s foreign economic policy. How have the aims of China’s foreign economic policy changed since the inauguration of reform in 1978? Has China become a status quo power? Will a wealthier and more powerful China challenge the institutions of the world? How does China’s domestic political situation affect its foreign economic policy? Is China’s succession bringing about a new foreign economic policy?