Northern Exposure: Cross-Regionalism and the China–Iceland Preferential Trade Negotiations

• Published in: The China Quarterly
• Main Author: Lanteigne, Marc
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2010
• Subjects: Political Science and International Relations; Development; Geography, Planning and Development; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0305741010000287; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0305741010000287

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.