中國 對外開放政策의 內容과 展望-歷史的 展開-

China's Open-Door Policy in Historical Perspective

This paper examines both the historical background to China's open-door policy and the economic factors which have helped shape it. The present policy can be considered in the context of the long-term problems China has faced in coming to terms with the outside world, although the economic issues have been decisive in both the timing and orientation. The Opium War dislodged China from its comfortable assumption of superiority in respect of the foreign barbarians. The defeat was forced to question the philosophies and attitudes which had formed the basis of the Chinese imperial system since Han times. The issue of rebuilding China's national and cultural integrity thus lay at the heart of the revolution which engulfed China during the twentieth century. After 1949 China regained the initiative in grappling with the issue. It had at last reestablished a firm central government. In effect. China had completed the transition from the imperial system to the status of an independent nation-state. Over the period since 1949, therefore, the question facing China's leaders has been that of determining the extent of China's interaction with foreign countries and the nature of foreign influences, economic, political, and social, within the country. Ultimately, the failure of previous policies of selective interaction and self-reliance left China with little alternative to a more pragmatic approach based on current imperatives on modernisation of its economy. The fact that both, political and economic goals are aligned in the open-door policy has given it a great stability which can be undermined by a major reversal of economic strategy. The future of thee policy is thus closely linked to the success or failure of the economic reform policy as a whole. In historical terms, however, its adoption can be seen as a symbol of China's acceptance of its modern role as a nation-state and of the end of the long search for a new conception of its place in the world which began in 1839. In this context, China's huge current open-door policy will be continued for the future, despire difficulties in the process of political practice.