During the period 1949 to 1979, communist China was officially pursuing a policy of self-sufficiency, and the United States and its allies were officially implementing a trade embargo against communist China. However, this book, based on extensive original research, demonstrates that China was highly dependent on Western/Japanese grain imports. The text shows that groups lobbying on behalf of Western/Japanese grain producers and related industries had successfully found ways of by-passing the embargo. This book charts the complicated picture of how economic relations between China, the West and Japan developed in these years.

Ralph Smith was a highly respected historian who, at the time of his death in December 2000, had nearly completed a manuscript chronicling changes in the East Asia region since 1943. This fascinating work, completed and edited by Chad Mitcham, one of Ralph Smith's former students, himself a specialist and established author in this field, draws together the product of Professor Smith's research at archives in Britain, France, Japan and the United States, extensive reading and international travel from 1966 to 2000. The book also incorporates a distillation of ideas and themes explored in his earlier papers, articles and books, including Ralph Smith's pioneering three volume work, An International History of the Vietnam War. It shows how both Ralph Smith's thinking about the future course of the region and the broader context of regional prospects radically changed throughout this turbulent time. As Ralph Smith's last major research project, carried out from 1997 to 2000, the book has evolved from his 1997 paper 'Visions of the Future: East Asia in 1943 and 1993', delivered in the Huang Hsing Foundation Distinguished Lecture at the Asian Studies Centre, St Antony's College, Oxford. It is a vital contribution to post-war Asian history.

Ralph Smith was a highly respected historian who, at the time of his death in December 2000, had nearly completed a manuscript chronicling changes in the East Asia region since 1943. This fascinating work, completed and edited by Chad Mitcham, one of Ralph Smiths former students, himself a specialist and established author in this field, draws together the product of Professor Smiths research at archives in Britain, France, Japan and the United States, extensive reading and international travel from 1966 to 2000. The book also incorporates a distillation of ideas and themes explored in his earlier papers, articles and books, including Ralph Smith's pioneering three volume work, "An International History of the" "Vietnam War," It shows how both Ralph Smiths thinking about the future course of the region and the broader context of regional prospects radically changed throughout this turbulent time.
As Ralph Smiths last major research project, carried out from 1997 to 2000, the book has evolved from his 1997 paper Visions of the Future: East Asia in 1943 and 1993, delivered in the Huang Hsing Foundation Distinguished Lecture at the Asian Studies Centre, St Antonys College, Oxford. It is a vital contribution to post-war Asian history.

Farm and business lobby groups played a vital role in the erosion of the American-led trade embargo against China from 1949-79. In this comprehensive study, based on recently declassified primary source material, trade negotiations and agreements are examined and a detailed account of developing economic links between East and West is also provided.
Developing economic relations and tensions with US policy are discussed in the context of PRC and Western economic and agricultural problems, Beijing's development strategies, Sino-Soviet relations and the backdrop of War in Asia. The story starts with regional grain shortages as a result of Mao's self-sufficiency policies. Washington failed to prevent its allies from stopping politically influential private and semi-official trade promotion organizations from maintaining more stringent trade restrictions aimed at preventing China's economic development. Mitcham also charts the rise and fall of the Great Leap Forward and China's eventual recovery, capped by rapprochement, the re-opening of important diplomatic and trade relations and Beijing's readjustment policies. By the late seventies, the stage was set for the rise of the Chinese economic engine, and a shift in economic thinking that continues to have repercussions both within China and around the world today.
For historians, economists, political scientists, government officials, business representatives and others with an interest in Chinese economics and history, China's Economic Relations with the West and Japan will be essential reading.