ABSTRACT
Perhaps because economic, political, and cultural issues are so often discussed separately, there is a tendency to consider them as independent issues. This is simply untrue. As experience with Japan has demonstrated, even after formal trade barriers have been dismantled, free trade is very difficult to achieve with a country that has a cultural resistance of imports and foreign influence.1 Similarly, a brief review of the political environment in countries around the world reveals that democracy and respect for human rights are often associated with a degree of economic prosperity? In the case of China, the totalitarian political system has had lasting economic impact.
