Hanscom Smith

In the decades after 1979, China’s adherence to key tenets of the U.S.-backed liberal international economic system enabled it to achieve middle income status. After the 2008-9 global financial crisis, however, weaknesses in the U.S. model combined with China’s own sustained growth increased Beijing’s confidence in an alternative, state-oriented model that increasingly underpins China’s foreign economic engagement. This course examines the Global Security and Belt and Road initiatives, trade, investment, and development policies, international organization advocacy, business practices, and other aspects of China’s growing international economic footprint. These factors are analyzed from the perspective of China’s internal dynamics, competition with the United States, and overall foreign policy goals, and are evaluated for their impact on the prevailing global economic order. The course is taught by a practitioner who spent over a decade managing U.S. Government economic policy in and on China.