Northern Exposure: Cross-Regionalism and the China–Iceland Preferential Trade Negotiations
Abstract An increasingly visible facet of China's commercial diplomacy has been its pursuit of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with small and medium-sized economies outside Asia. China's PTAs, completed or under negotiation, have indicated both a conservative approach and an increasin...
| Published in: | The China Quarterly |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2010
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0305741010000287 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0305741010000287 |
| Summary: | Abstract An increasingly visible facet of China's commercial diplomacy has been its pursuit of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with small and medium-sized economies outside Asia. China's PTAs, completed or under negotiation, have indicated both a conservative approach and an increasing comfort level with cross-regional trade negotiations. The China–Iceland PTA negotiations since 2006 illustrate this new thinking. Although the island state has a considerably smaller economy, China has perceived the negotiations as being undertaken between equals as well as an important bilateralism model. A successful deal will further demonstrate a new stage in Chinese commercial diplomacy and its approach to bilateral trade as well as a determination to engage the European economy even through a “side door” approach. However, in light of Iceland's banking crisis and deep recession in late 2008, Beijing has also had to address the uncertainties of negotiating with small states in a time of global economic uncertainty. |
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