The United States, COCOM, and the China differentials: The making of Western export-control policies, 1949--1994.

摘要

This dissertation documents and analyzes Western export-control policies toward the People's Republic of China from 1949 to 1994. It seeks to fill a gap in our knowledge of postwar East-West economic relations by constructing a detailed, systematic account of the formulation and implementation of Western policies governing trade with and technology transfer to China. Three selected case studies, respectively focusing on the 1950s, the 1980s, and post-1989, provide the historical background for an detailed analysis of the origins and evolution of the so-called "China differentials," where China was accorded different (either more restrictive or more liberal) treatments regarding trade and technology transfer from those offered to the other communist bloc countries by the West. It discusses the policy differences between the United States and its major allies over export controls on China and the manners in which these differences were managed through the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM). I argue that systemic factors, such as the structure of the postwar international system and superpower competition, provided a most useful analytical framework for understanding the rationales behind Western, and in particular American, China trade policies. As well, this study assesses the relative efficacy of the various strategies of economic statecraft as employed in the China cases in achieving specific politico-strategic objectives and tests the relative utility of theories of international cooperation in explaining collective actions in an alliance context.