The Contemporary Transformation of the International System
Professor John Wilton
Lecture 4
The transformation of the states-system: China

                                                           Lecture 4
Additional source:
Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 2010, Vol.38, no.3 (special issue ‘After Liberalism’)

Lecture 4
1.Developments in China post-Mao Zedong
2.
2.China today domestically and internationally

Lecture 4
1.Developments in China post-Mao Zedong
- Deng Xiaoping’s ‘Open Door’ policy 1978
= partial liberalisation and modernisation of  China’s economy
- May/June 1989 ‘Tiananmen Square’ = political crisis as China’s political institutions incapable
or unwilling to respond to effects of economic modernisation domestically + failure to respond to
international changes in Soviet Union and East/Central Europe

Lecture 4
-China took its own specific ‘road’ to economic reforms
- selective, focused initially on agriculture, international trade and foreign investment (‘open
door’ and ‘long march’ to a more market economy)
- BUT initially continued centralised      ‘output planning’ and State ownership of   medium and
large enterprises

Lecture 4
China’s economic reforms successful in:
a)accelerating growth rate in economy and sustaining it over long period;
b)transforming collective agriculture;
c)spurring growth of rural industry;
d)expansion of exports
e)

Lecture 4
2. China today domestically and internationally
- 2000 China 6th largest economy in world
- 2010 (March – June) China 2nd largest economy in world (overtook Japan, according to Japanese
govt. figures)
- urban population estimated to double by 2025 (estimated will have 221 cities with one million
plus populations – Europe 35)
- 2006 overtook USA as largest emitter of greenhouse gases

Lecture4
China’s official international political strategy
“to unswervingly pursue an independent foreign policy of peace …. The fundamental goals are to
preserve China’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, create a favourable
international environment for China’s reform and opening up and modernisation construction,
maintain world peace and propel common development.”
(Chinese govt website.           www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjdt/)

Lecture 4
July 2001 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation (with Russia)
- economic, strategic cooperation, and diplomatic and geopolitical reliance, plus some military
cooperation and sharing of military ‘know how’
= counterbalance to USA              developments in the region      strategically after 9/11 in
2001

Lecture4
USA/China areas of disagreement:
a)Climate change
b)Human Rights
c)Taiwan
d)‘Rogue states’ – (i) North Korea
      (ii) Iran
      (iii) Burma
e)Military competition
f)Economic disputes – China’s currency, tariffs, ‘rare earth metals’, censorship/Google