Chinese Foreign Economic Policy

China’s foreign economic policy has been evolving over time. Chinese foreign economic policy has not only been an integral part of China’s overall foreign policy but, more importantly, has been directly shaped and determined by the nation’s economic system throughout. Most significantly, Chinese foreign economic policy has been dramatically transformed since the late 1970s, reflecting not only the adjustment of Chinese foreign policy in the post-Mao era but also the transformation of the Chinese economic system as a result of economic reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping. Consequently, Chinese foreign economic policy has become a major theme of China’s overall foreign policy and Chinese foreign policy has been highly economic-oriented since 1978. This chapter examines how Chinese foreign economic policy has been transformed from the Mao era to the post-Mao era, focusing on Chinese foreign economic policy in the post-Mao era in trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), the renminbi (RMB) and free trade agreements (FTA).