The 4 Key Strengths of China’s Economy — and What They Mean for Multinational Companies

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping launched his “Reform and Opening” policy to leverage Western technology and know-how for China’s development. It was a politically risky move: Ideological hardliners in the Communist Party resented the implicit assumption of China’s economic backwardness under socialism — and the superiority of the capitalist West. But Deng recognized that China’s modernization required both pragmatism and humility.