Britain, France, West Germany and the People's Republic of China 1969-1982 ― The European Dimension of China's Great Transition

This book focuses on helping readers to fill the gap of the little known history between Western Europe and its most important trading partner: the People’s Republic of China. Inspired by the economic and political signifance of Sino-European relations, this book shows how the China policies of the three biggest states of Western Europe – Britain, France, and the Federal Republic of Germany – helped China reintegrate into the international community in the 1970s. Against the background of the Cold War, the end of Maoism, and the emergence of globalization, the governments in Bonn, Paris and London had to find ways of dealing with Europe’s declining influence and promote their own national interests in Asia.

Martin Albers works for the German think-tank Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES). He holds a PhD from Cambridge University and his research interests include twentieth-century European history and contemporary relations between Europe and Asia.