Introduction

At the end of the seventies China’s economic policymakers decided to broaden and intensify the country’s foreign economic relations. They recognised that by participating more actively in the international division of labour, in other words by using contributions from abroad, they could modernise the country more smoothly and more quickly than would be possible if China relied on her own resources alone. China’s trading partners are therefore faced with the problem of knowing the form in which China wishes to use foreign resources in future and in which sectors. This study attempts to answer that question by making a detailed analysis of Chinese development policy.