China's Economic Relations with the West and Japan, 1949-1979: Grain, Trade and Diplomacy / Edition 1

by Chad Mitcham

Overview

During the period 1949 to 1979, communist China was officially pursuing a policy of self-sufficiency, and the United States and its allies were officially implementing a trade embargo against communist China. However, this book, based on extensive original research, demonstrates that China was highly dependent on Western/Japanese grain imports. The text shows that groups lobbying on behalf of Western/Japanese grain producers and related industries had successfully found ways of by-passing the embargo. This book charts the complicated picture of how economic relations between China, the West and Japan developed in these years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415314817
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/29/2005
Series:	Routledge Studies on the Chinese Economy , #14
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Chad J. Mitcham, a London-based writer and researcher, recieved his PhD in History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has studied and worked in several countries.

Table of Contents

Part 1: 1949 to August 1960 Preface Introduction 1. Grain Imbalance, CHINCOM and China's Economic and Foreign Trade Strategy: 1949 to June 1957 2. Famine, 'the Great Leap' and China's 'Test Purchases' of Western Grain: July 1957 to August 1960 Part 2: September 1960 to October 1962 3. Chinese-Western grain Trade Diplomacy: Credits and Famine Relief, September 1960 to October 1962 4. Grain, Aircraft and the Lennedy Administration's 'China Policy' Debate: June 1960 to October 1962 Part 3: October 1962 to July 1964 5. Chemical Fertiliser, Equipment and Technology and Japanese-Western Competition in the 'China Trade': October 1962 to September 1963 6. 'China Market' Rivalries Intensify: Washington and Taibei's Response, October 1963 to July 1964 Part 4: August 1964 to December 1965 7. The 'Third Front', Vietnam and China's Foreign Trade: August 1964 to February 1965 8. Vietnam Escalation and the 'Non-Strategic' 'China Trade': Washington's Position Reconsidered, March to December 1965 Part 5: 1965 to 1974 9. 'Cultural Revolution' Delays: Steel Complex Negotiations and US-Allied Trade Policy, 1965 and 1966 10. Emergence from 'Cultural Revolution': Suspended Trade Negotiations Resumed. US Trade Controls Relaxed, 1966 to 1979 Appendices 1. Biographical Sketches of Chinese Officials

Editorial Reviews

'This book is a valuable contribution to our fuller understanding of China's post 1949 economic development' - Christopher Howe, The China Quarterly, 196, December 2008

"Mitcham reviews the economic and foreign trade diplomacy conducted between China on the one hand and Japan and the West on the other. A particular focus of the work is on how China’s diplomatic policies successfully undermined the American-led trade embargo between 1949 and 1979. Another major and interrelated theme is the gradual Chinese abandonment of Mao’s policy of self-reliance through a halting “readjustment” process based on reduced industrialization targets; the gradual lessening of Chinese economic dependence on the Soviet Union; the purchase of Western and Japanese equipment, complete industrial installations, related technology, and technical support, and a return to the pre-revolutionary policy of importing Western grain." —Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher