Economic Reform and the Internationalisation of the State

Two main factors combined, the unprecedented globalisation of the world economy and the momentous economic reforms in China, are most responsible for the fundamental economic transformations in China since 1978. These two factors, one endogenous and the other exogenous to the Chinese economy, have also facilitated the emergence and evolution of China’s global businesses. This chapter explores a particular aspect of the endogenous factor and examines specifically the dynamics at the interface between Chinese economic reform and the internationalisation of the Chinese state. A number of questions need to be addressed here. Why does internationalisation exert such a strong influence on economic reform in China? How does economic reform promote the internationalisation of the Chinese state? In what sense can economic reform be seen as a process of China’s internalising norms, institutions and accepted practices of the world economy? In what way can we interpret this internalisation as China’s response to the accelerated globalisation of the world economy?