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Modern Chinese International Relations And Its Effects On The Chinese Economy

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Modern Chinese International Relations and Its Effects on the Chinese Economy
Introduction
In 2013, referencing the previous year, the U.S. Commerce Department released import and export figures totaling 3.82 trillion USD, while China’s customs administration released figures amounting to 3.87 trillion, making China the world’s largest trading economy (Bloomberg News 2013). This news signifies that China’s trading policy and partners must be a major target of scrutiny with newfound importance. In this paper, I will discuss the history of Chinese trade policy, what constitutes Chinese trade policy, namely China’s use of free trade agreements (FTAs) and treaties, who China’s major trading partners are and relations with each one, and how …show more content…

Based upon Chinese trade history, one can extrapolate the China was averse to trade for a long period due to past experiences of exploitation, but once it rediscovered the benefits of trade, it decided to leverage its population base, geographic size, and resources to dominate trade. Furthermore, China joined numerous international economic organizations including the World Bank, IMF, the GATT, the Multi-Fiber Agreement, etc. in the mid-1980s. By becoming more open to trade, China was more open to foreign capital, allocating it the funds to grow as a trading entity. Thus, due to lack of choice and by overcoming an aversion to foreigners, caused in no small part to a horrible history of opium addiction and massacres, China was able to become a massive trading country.
Who’s Who? After China joined the World Trade Organization, it realized it was unable to accomplish its trade goals of recognition of a market economy status and preferential access to regional factors of production using traditional multilateral routes, for these goals are not in spirit with multilateral treaties and instead decided to achieve such goals with bilateral agreements (Mallon and Whalley 2004). Multilateral treaties, by nature often restrain member nations, guaranteeing that one nation does not

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