The Politics of Foreign Economic Policy-making in China: The Case of Plant Cancellations with Japan

Abstract

The following analysis of China's foreign economic policy-making will focus particularly on the decision of 1980–81 to suspend contracts with foreign countries, taking Baoshan and the petrochemical complexes as specific examples. I discuss this issue in terms of Sino-Japanese relations because Japan was the main target of the cancellations and because the relevant Japanese materials are plentiful. The decision-making process of Chinese foreign economic policy has barely been touched upon in previous research. However, recently there has been some study of the decision-making process in domestic economic policy. For example, Michel Oksenberg, relying on personal interviews, has published two perceptive articles that have been of great use to this study.