Globalization, transition and development in China

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of China’s developmental strategy for the past two decades or more, based on case studies of China’s coal industry. It examines how the three parallel challenges from development, transition and globalization determine that reform must be handled cautiously, experimentally, innovatively, and in a balanced way, with the state playing a significant and irreplaceable role. Chapter 1 reviews both the theoretical and empirical backgrounds relevant to China’s three challenges. Chapter 2 examines the three challenges facing the coal industry in order to better illustrate the same challenges facing China as a whole. The following three chapters each examine one specific challenge respectively. Chapter 6 concludes by demonstrating the inter-relationship between the three challenges and the significant role of the State. This research differs from others in its discovery of the underlying answers of China’s development strategy by examining the three challenges within a single book and based on one important industry. China has succeeded by understanding that development is both paramount challenge and ultimate goal, that transition and integration with the world must be approached cautiously so as to secure, rather than radically to disturb economic development. However, the three challenges are both overwhelming and conflicting, to pursue one may cause the delay or even sacrifice of another. The best solution requires a complex mix of considerations. China’s development strategy, with both its strengths and weaknesses, has been proved practicable and effective in the difficult conditions created by both domestic and global contexts. By providing such an unbiased and comprehensive examination of China’s development strategy based on the coal industry, this book is of interest not only to those directly concerned in the coal industry but also to those keen to understand the ever expanding influence of China in the world today.