DPU Working Paper - No. 25

Author: Shane Greive

Publication Date: 1991

The policy shifts in China since 1978 may be viewed as the most recent developments in a continuing debate initiated in the mid 1950s and focused on two fundamental questions. Firstly, should priority be given to the development of production forces and economic construction, or to the transformation of productive relations and the development of socialism? And secondly, what strategy would create the most rapid economic development?

An important indication of the emergence of the new dominant position of this debate is the Open Door Policy. Announced in 1978, the stated purpose of this policy was to pursue the expansion of economic cooperation in terms of equality and mutual benefit with other countries in a quest to adopt the world's advanced technologies and equipment. The aspect of this policy which is so different from past international trade and technical exchange policies, is that for the first time in China's postrevolutionary history, foreign investment, particularly from the developed capitalist countries has been actively encouraged.

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