Unequal partnerships and open doors: probing China’s economic ambitions in Asia

Abstract

One of the most important arguments with which China has sought to develop amicable relations with its neighbours has been the promise of economic benefits. Yet, this paper argues, these gains have remained limited. In spite of limited available data, the paper shows that China’s contribution to the rest of Asia’s GDP has been small and for most neighbours negative. Moreover, China is increasingly impelling those countries into partnerships that look unequal rather than equal. While Beijing has tried to mitigate frustration by promising to rebalance its economy and to create more export opportunities, the paper goes on to reveal that China is in fact readying itself to make another major push for exports itself and to pursue its own open-door policy.

中国寻求发展与邻国的友好关系，最重要的理由之一一直是经济利益的承诺。然而，本文认为，这些利益仍然有限。尽管可得到的资料有限，该文章还是显示，中国对亚洲其他国家的国内生产总值的贡献微小，甚至对大多数邻国来说影响是负面的。此外，中国正日益加速与这些国家结成看似不平等而非平等的伙伴关系。尽管北京试图通过承诺重新平衡其经济并为他国创造更多的出口机会，以减轻他们的挫折感，该文还是透露，中国实际上是在为再一次大举促进出口，并实行自己的门户开放政策而做好准备。

Keywords:

• strategic trade
• China
• Asia
• open-door
• unequal partnership

Notes

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13. WDI, Datasheet 2: Real GDP.

14. WDI, Datasheet 3: Manu.

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40. Ibid., section 6.

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64. Government Work Report 2012.

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