ABSTRACT

It is not a simple matter to disentangle the comparatively common action, on the one hand of imposing export restrictions on specific hazardous goods such as nuclear materials from, on the other, interference in normal trade patterns that are designed to alter the external behaviour or internal character of a potential or real adversary. The sanctions fall into at least four distinct phases which embrace considerable variation in the number of 'sanctioners', the instrument of legitimation and co-ordination, the extent of the goods and services proscribed, as well as the ostensible objectives. It is difficult to conceive of a justification or objective for imposing economic penalties that at least one of the major participants did not advance at some point. The minimalist position on sanctions grew out of a broader set of ideas on the utility of economic tools of state craft and specific assumptions about Chinese intentions and foreign policy behaviour.