‘In the interest of your bank and our country’: Two encounters between China and the International Chamber of Commerce

Article Article scientifique Article ‘In the interest of your bank and our country’: Two encounters between China and the International Chamber of Commerce eng 2023-04-18 2023 author Lin Yi-Tang 0000-0003-2688-9445 910039 author David Thomas author Eichenberger Pierre 1387-1414 10.1017/s0026749x22000579 0026-749X This article examines China’s path to joining the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), a private international organization founded in Paris in 1920, of which China was a member from 1931–1949 and from 1994 onwards. The article charts the actors and debates behind two meaningful encounters. The first took place while the Nanjing government was raising funds for economic reconstruction, and the ICC aimed to mediate China’s fundraising efforts through private multilateral channels. The second was in the 1980s, when the People’s Republic was seeking to enter the world trade system. ICC members acted as educators and facilitators of world trade practicalities for the People’s Republic, which eventually rejoined the ICC in 1994. The article draws on Chinese, European, and American source material collected from governments, chambers of commerce, and private businessmen to make a twofold contribution. First, it adds nuance to the narrative of China’s economic internationalization by identifying an important non-governmental diplomatic channel. Second, it questions the ICC’s self-proclaimed identity as a non-political economic organization by showing how the political was indissociable from the economic when it came to China’s membership. International Chamber of Commerce China Business Economic diplomacy Internationalization Dewey 900 90 Département d'histoire générale 3H false Modern Asian studies 57 4 590936c4-a615-4ea6-9636-558d4d57eb70 Article (Published version) Public Article_scientifique_from_unpaywall.pdf 364555 application/pdf CC BY-4.0 6495ff42a1f805c5c358436429223c912668375828b248d360619591272c98e9 openAccess Faculté des lettres / Département d'histoire générale

Title	Published in	Access level	OA Policy	Year	Views	Downloads

‘In the interest of your bank and our country’: Two encounters between China and the International Chamber of Commerce	Modern Asian studies			2023	71	799

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Lin, Yi-Tang