ABSTRACT
China’s investments in national telegraph and telephone networks and in electrical and electronics technologies were heavily subsidized by foreign companies such as General Electric, Nippon Electrical Company, and A.R. St. Louis. In the 1930s and 1940s, China’s electronics enterprises reflected the political divisions within the country between the two factions vying for power: the Nationalist Government, led by the Kuomintang party, and its ideological rival, the Chinese Communist Party. China was a late and slow starter in developing its electronics and telecommunications industries. During the Seventh five-year plan, the production level in the electronics industry began to accelerate, despite the instability of market prices and uneven economic growth in regions. Since the beginning of economic reform and opening to the outside world, China’s electronics industry has achieved significant progress through trade and cooperation with foreign companies. The chapter discusses Chinese-foreign cooperative ventures in China’s electronics industry, followed by the structure and pattern of China’s import and export of electronic products.
