ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the development of trade controls and their economic consequences since the 1950s, and provides perspective on the dynamics of later reforms which attempted to find a compromise between state control and local initiative. Contrary to the impression of some commentators that China is undertaking a revolutionary decentralization of foreign trade administration, Chinese analysis often stresses that unified central planning and implementation of foreign trade goals is essential. Decentralization of trade activity was complemented by continuous issuance of new laws protecting the interests of both Chinese and foreign partners in trade agreements. New product-specialized Foreign Trade Corporations were set up, controlled by the state but under the aegis of the central production ministries rather than the Ministry of Foreign Trade. The new Chinese policies embraced decentralization of control and domestic competition as means to spur the nation to success in the international marketplace.
