| Summary/Abstract |
This article assesses the relative importance of political and economic factors in shaping China’s free trade agreement (FTA) strategy since the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Event history analysis of the time lapse before China signed an FTA with a given partner country lends substantial support to arguments emphasizing the political motivations behind China’s choice of FTA partner. The Chinese leadership has undoubtedly signed more FTAs with countries that have similar state preferences. However, there is far less overwhelming evidence to suggest that China’s FTAs are motivated by economic considerations. While Beijing has indeed signed more FTAs with countries on which it depends heavily for imports, there is scant evidence to show that China’s FTAs are designed to enhance market access abroad, or to secure essential supplies of raw materials. Finally, the study analyses the importance of multilateral and regional trade liberalization in shaping China’s FTA policy choices, and finds that, as a major trading nation, China may not be significantly influenced by the competitive dynamics of regional trade liberalization when formulating its FTA strategy.
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