China's Economic Development and Sino-Japanese Economic Relationships: Beyond the Flying Geese Pattern Theory

摘要

This article is aimed at exploring China's development process and Sino-Japanese economic relations in terms of the Akamatsu flying geese pattern (FGP) theory. On the basis of dynamic comparative advantage, the theory predicts that China's trade advantage lies primarily in labor-intensive products and industries. However, the trade pattern has shifted relatively from such products to more capital-/technology-intensive ones. The article tests the changes in China's comparative advantage utilizing the RCA index, International Competitiveness coefficient and trade similarity index. It concludes that China's development path and Sino- Japanese economic relationships cannot be explained by the FGP theory alone, though the theory is still basically adaptable to the Chinese scene; deviations from that theory could be derived from various functions of FDIs, particularly importation of new technologies, that China has extensively enjoyed.