ABSTRACT
Foreign trade has constituted for China an important means of facilitating and accelerating modernization. The conduct of foreign trade has been influenced by political and ideological factors as well as by purely economic circumstances. The impact of domestic economic development upon the pattern of Chinese foreign trade may be examined more closely through the commodity composition of trade. Given the objectives of Chinese foreign trade policy, it is understandable that the Communist government almost immediately set out to establish complete control of foreign trade. But the dominant position of the Soviet Union continued until 1961, when the direction of China's trade once again began to change drastically, partly because of the deterioration of political relationships with the Soviet Union, and partly because of the need for food from the West. The Chinese foreign aid program is primarily politically motivated, designed to promote Chinese influence. However, the possibility of long-run commercial gain cannot be ruled out.
