Trade and Transfer Between China and the Second World During the Cold War: An Enterprise Perspective

During the Cold War, China’s critical trading partners included Europe, Japan, and other nations that Mao referred to as the “Second World,” serving as China’s gateway to the global economy (Kelly, 2021). Amid the U.S.-led embargo in the early 1950s, these Second World nations became the central focus of China’s foreign economic diplomacy, allowing China to access Western industrial products and technology. After the Sino-Soviet split in the early 1960s, these countries emerged as China’s primary source of advanced technology and essential agricultural products, accounting for approximately 75% of China’s foreign trade (Chen Yun, 1973). Throughout the Cultural Revolution, China sustained its economic and technological relationships with the Second World, which remained China’s most significant trading partner and source of technology until China’s Reform Period.
This session will examine China’s trade and technology transfers with the Second World from the perspective of enterprises. It will highlight notable collaborations between China and Second World nations in the iron and steel industry, energy sector, and agricultural trade. By analyzing bilateral and multilateral archival documents, this session will explore the mechanisms, motivations, key players, and implications of trade and technology exchange between China and the Second World—an interaction that continues to shape the world today.