Foreign-related activities of the Chinese local governments and agents of globalization: a case study of 31 provinces in mainland China

UnrestrictedChina's local foreign-related activities have rapidly developed with the brisk pace of globalization and localization since China opened to the outside world in the late 1970s, bringing about a great impact on its national diplomacy and local economy. Few studies, however, concern why and how the Chinese local governments voluntarily conduct foreign activities, nor how to evaluate or what factors help shape the foreign-related achievements. Based on literature review and empirical evidence, this study examines the foreign activities of China's 31 provincial-level governments in a globalization perspective. It first explores why and how the provincial governments interact with the transnational flow of capital, goods, people and information, which are most important agents of globalization. Second, an index is created to evaluate and rank the foreign-related achievements of China's 31 provincial governments (FACPG) during 2004-2006 by processing the official data collected. Third, 18 factors are tested to make sure whether and to what extent they push up or pull down FACPG.; The study finds that: 1) the Chinese local government international involvement did not appearuntil China opened its door to the outside world in the late 1970s as commonly conceived. The local international involvement can be traced back to the Han Dynasty and continued to flourish in the Tang Dynasty in ancient China. 2) The provincial governments in the Chinese Mainland are active in promoting foreign activities closely related to the transnational flow of globalization agents in order to benefit their local economy. 3) FACPG shows remarkable disparity during 2004 to 2006. Six coastal provinces and two municipalities directly under the central government ranked at the top consistently. 4) There were significant and positive correlations between factors tested and FACPC with exception of land area. During the observed period, factors associated with provincial acquired international competencies had much stronger positive correlation with FACPG than basic factors