Abstract

Upon the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China had faced the military and economic blockade by the western countries led by the US, even though China was willing to enter the international market in an independent and self-reliant manner on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Due to the interrupt of the Korean War, the degree of blockade and embargo was upgraded, which is extremely seldom in the history of international relations in terms of the length of time, the number of evolved countries and the strictness of the blockade and embargo. Despite of this blockade and embargo, China successfully achieved the development of its international trade, thanks to its correct decisions and strategy. For instance, its trade reached to the highest historical level in 1951 and was the first time that exports over passed imports. Finally, the blockade and embargo completely failed in 1957 because of the inconsistence among the capitalist countries caused by the blockade and embargo policy.

This book reviews this episode of history with detailed historical records and data. The conclusions are that “the blockader” and “the blockaded one” are relatively connected in the sense that when the blockaders impose embargo, the blockaded market is thus shut off to the blockaders so that the latter can be regarded as being blockaded as well. Therefore, given China's huge market potency, resource and workforce, imposing any kind of blockade and embargo over it will be less effective and blockaders will receive backfire of embargo, acting like someone shooting himself in the foot.

The purpose of this review is to facilitate the learning from history. Since China re-established the relationship with western countries in the 1970s and carried out its reform and opening-up policy in 1980s and 1990s, China has faced the formation and development of world market. In recent years, China's alignment and adoptability toward free trade principle have been enhanced, due to China's rising in terms of relative economic advantage and industrial competitiveness. Therefore, China has changed from a passive accepter to a positive player in promoting fee trade. The coping capability of China in international market has significantly improved. Thus, by reviewing the history of blockade and embargo, developing countries can learn an important lesson, that is, the ability of self-reliance is the key to cope with international disputes.

This book covers recently published historical documents, especially the background materials of the blockade and embargo. For instance, it contains documents which record the international relationship between China and the USSR as well as the international relationship between China and the US, the material of the Korean War, and the history of CCP and China's economy. It also reflects facts of the trade information of the liberated regions controlled by the CCP before it established the PRC. The field of the study is also extended from international trade to production and trade inside of China.