Promoting Transnational Exchange with China in the Age of Reform, 1978–82

Abstract

In this chapter Albers discusses how Britain, France and West Germany reacted to the start of economic reforms in China under Deng Xiaoping. In order to modernise the country, China needed partners in the West and, together with Japan and the USA, the developed countries of Europe were of particular importance. While being bound by the constraints of the Cold War and domestic politics, all three European countries provided substantial support to the Chinese reforms, facilitating a rapidly expanding economic and cultural exchange. Albers argues that through trade, development aid and by playing a stabilising role in international relations, the governments of Britain, France and Germany gave crucial assistance during the initial stages of Deng Xiaoping’s reform policy.