AN ANALYSIS OF HOW CHINA IS EMERGING AS THE CHAMPION OF FREE TRADE WITH A LONG-TERM GLOBAL STRATEGY

With the United States (US) distancing itself from free trade during the Trump administration, China has been successfully positioning itself as the new free trade champion. During its disengagement process, the US has also been perceived to have snubbed some of its traditional partners like Turkey in terms of trade policies. These traditional allies have since been wooed by the Chinese through attractive commercial deals. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a comprehensive set of infrastructure projects which aim to stimulate trade in Eurasia. With its immense financial resources, China has been investing in logistics and infrastructure projects in more than 72 countries. While criticisms and concerns have been raised, of Chinese state mercantilism, for instance, countries interested in diversifying their trade relationships like Turkey have welcomed the free trade approach. The paper aims to disprove the hypothesis that China’s international investments are solely short-term, profit-oriented, and transactional in nature. Instead, the paper argues that these investments should be seen as a part of the long-term strategy of a country that aims to be both a political and economic world power. Moreover, this paper sees China’s overall trade contribution positively and argues that its strong position as a trading partner can help strengthen smaller economies’ negotiation positions. Hence, countries like Turkey can negotiate and choose the best deals offered by different trading centers. In the post-Covid context, the world economy cannot afford to exclude any major economies. The US and China are encouraged to settle their differences in the context of global rule-based systems.