Trade with China

Lucrative, expanding tea trade with China became a world monopoly of the East India Company. When the treaty between Britain and China expired in 1833, location of alternate tea sources became desirable. All attempts to cultivate the relatively superior Chinese varieties in India failed. However, local cultivation of the Assam variety indigenous to northeast India was promising, and eventually allowed tea production in India to flourish. India became one of the foremost tea growing areas of the world,7 only recently being surpassed in export by Kenya. 

While the United States now has a governmental trade agreement with China, trade is still mainly carried out with China in accordance with private trade agreements. US trade with China therefore has been done through private, "friendly" transactions. 

In 2005, BASF will celebrate its 140th anniversary and can look back on 120 years of trade with China. This year BASF also starts up the largest investment project in the history of the company its new Verbund site in Nanjing, China. This article analyzes China s key role in achieving BASF s strategic goals in Asia and reviews BASF s progress in the country. 

The opening of trade with China has resulted in several chemical company expansions in that country and nearby countries. In 2005, the two national chemical giants, Dow Chemical Company and Dupont Company have large-scale plans for investment in China. Dow is planning a large coal-to-methanol-to-olefins complex that includes chlor-alkali facilities that will take five to ten years for completion. Dupont has recently doubled its investment in China and plans to spend another 600 million BY 2010, a portion of which may go to build a titanium dioxide plant. Dupont employs about 5000 people on Mainland China and recently built a Research... 

In the late 18th century Britain made approaches to trade with China which were met with indifference it seems that the mandarins held the belief that the British feared death from constipation if deprived of rhubarb (Rheum palmatum), one of China s exports. 

In i960, Moscow withdrew its technicians, suspended all agreements for scientific and technical cooperation, and radically reduced trade with China. By 1962, it had closed all its China consulates. Their reactions to each other s major foreign adventures in 1962 -the Chinese openly criticized the Soviet handling of the Cuban crisis, while the Soviets covertly offered help to India in the Sino-Indian war - portended the death of their alliance. 

Finally, Rice turned to the hypocrisy of the U.S. policy on trade with China During the past century the West forced China to recognise that no country can refuse to trade with the rest of the world. We now enforce the opposite stand in our own embargo policy. With even the Chinese Government on Taiwan allowing at least some indirect trade with the mainland, we are being more Catholic than the Pope. ... 

In June 1967, Johnson personally sent a message to Beijing via the Romanian prime minister that closely followed Reischauer s recommendations. Washington, he said, did not want war with China, did not seek to change China s system of government, had no designs on Chinese territory, and wanted only to trade with China and get along to the extent that China would permit. 

Diamond, as a material, has been recognized as having unique properties for several thousands of years and references of it being used as an industrial tool can be traced back to at least 300 BC. At this time, whole stones appeared to have been used for engraving and, by 150 BC, India, where the early diamond deposits were discovered, had established an export trade with China for such diamond-tipped engraving tools for use in cutting very hard jade stone (Fig. 1). 

China s pharmaceutical market is growing at a very fast pace. The current data show that the total market is around US 20 billion, and it is the ninth largest pharmaceutical country in the world. The Chinese government maintains price control on imported drugs. With China s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), tariffs have been reduced from 20% to 6.5%. The projection is that the market size will reach US 60 billion by 2010, and China will be the world s largest market by 2020. 

For the countries of Europe, opium was a critical product for trade with the countries of the Far East. The problem for the Europeans (a problem Americans eventually encountered as well) was that while they increasingly required goods from the Far East, such as tea and especially silk, countries like China were not equally interested in Western goods. But the Chinese were interested in opium, an interest that provided Europe with the leverage for effective trade. For Europeans, especially the British, this meant that they had to control the trade in places where opium could be grown, such as India. This need for control lead to the creation of Britain s infamous East India Company. 

However, supplying opium to millions of Chinese addicts was a profitable business, and it was under the control of British companies. In 1839, when China tried to ban the opium trade, Britain sent its navy and marines to force open the ports. In 1842, the Opium wars ended with China forced again to allow the drug to be sold. 

Britain signs an agreement with China to dismantle the opium trade. However, the profits made from its cultivation, manufacture, and sale were so enormous that no serious interruption was felt until World War II closed supply routes throughout Asia. 

By the time opium was banned by the U.S. Congress in 1905, the abuse of black market heroin had already taken hold. In 1910, Britain signed an agreement with China to dismantle the opium trade. But the profits made from its cultivation, manufacture, and sale were so enormous that no serious interruption would be felt until World War II closed supply routes throughout Asia. And although Bayer ended the manufacture of heroin for medicinal use in 1913, illicit importation and distribution networks in New York and San Francisco were already well established. 

Asia dominates the world import market for urea and ammonium phosphates. China and India are particularly large importers and variations in their import requirements have a major impact on world prices. The agricultural and fertilizer sectors of these two countries could be affected by the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements with China. The agreements will probably have a beneficial effect globally. However, some individual countries and companies may experience adverse effects36. 

If anything, British profiteering from the opium trade jumped as the result of the reversion to a totally black-market production-distribution cycle. Ironically, the legalization of the opium trade into China forced upon the Emperor through the Opium Wars had cut into British profits on the drag. Legalization had brought with it the requirement that the British opium... 

Many maritime routes were developed to India and China with an ultimate desire to develop a spice route. In the late 13th century, Marco Polo s exploration of Asia established Venice as the most important trade port. Venice remained prosperous until about 1498. The Portuguese explorer, Vasco de Gama, sailed around Africa s Cape of Good Hope to reach Calicut, India. He returned with pepper, cinnamon, ginger and jewels, and also deals for the Portuguese to continue trade with India. 

In England, the British East India Company had a monopoly on trade with the East. An established sailing pattern for the British East India Company ships was to leave, in midwinter, from London for Canton, China, and return 13-14 months later. Meticulous records of this company s trade, as a result of silk being an important commodity imported directly from China, are housed at the India Office Library and Records in London. These records provide valuable information and documentation for several of the Chinese silk characteristics. 

Rhino hom has been used for centuzies, by many nationalitieB, for a variety of purposes. The trade to China goes back 2000 years. For half of this time it was customary for Chinese aristocrats to present their emperor with rhino hom vessels to celebrate a birthday. These could be in forms such as cupsj bowls or brush pots, and were intended to be treasured, not used 6.3). The Chinese greatly admired rhino hom and, with their usual beautiful workmanship, carved it into all manner of items, om buttons and belt buckles to combs, bracelets and talismans. 

With respect to imports, Germany imports a greater dollar volume than the United States. The dollar value of the U.S. chemical trade with specific countries is presented in Table 9.6. In 1995 the chemical balance of trade with Australia, Latin America, Africa, and Asia (with the exception of Japan and China) was greater than 4 1. With the more highly industrialized nations, like Canada, the... 

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