The dynamic growth of the People’s Republic of China in recent years is attributable to several factors. Trade between the United States and China resumed in 1972, after a twenty-year hiatus, and has developed rapidly since normalization of diplomatic relations in 1979. Economic growth is also attributable largely to China’s policies of economic reform. The pace of reform quickened in the wake of senior leader Deng Xiaoping’s call in early 1992 for more growth, greater openness, and stepped-up reform. Deng’s policies were endorsed that year by the Fourteenth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, by the Eighth Annual People’s Congress in 1993, and again in 1993 by the Third Plenum of the Chinese Communists Party’s Fourteenth Central Committee. The Third Plenum adopted several new reform initiatives aimed at transforming the Chinese economy into a market system—particularly the privatization of state-owned enterprises.

But what are the possible intranational political consequences of the government’s current stress on economic development at the expense of political reform? Certain regions are experiencing a greater economic boom than others. Guangdong province, for example, has benefited from neighboring Hong Kong’s freewheeling capitalistic economy, and the movement of Hong Kong’s manufacturing sector into the province has created what is probably the most dynamic economy in the world. Such anomalies in economic development are likely to create unrest in less prosperous areas. Political instability might also result if current inflationary trends become uncontrollable. Further, the question of leadership succession remains unresolved, a situation that might generate political unrest. Political unrest will remain relatively dormant only while economic expansion continues and spreads to the nation’s internal regions.

1. The passage mentions all of the following as factors contributing to China’s economic growth EXCEPT:

(A) renewed political relations between China and the United States
(B) the policies of Deng Xiaoping
(C) particular initiatives of the Third Plenum
(D) endorsements made by the Eighth Annual People’s Congress
(E) a decrease in the number of state-owned enterprises


2. The author discusses Guangdong province primarily in order to

(A) illustrate a political phenomenon
(B) discount an economic theory
(C) support a prediction
(D) help define a historical trend
(E) rebut an opposing viewpoint


3. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage’s second paragraph?

(A) Unless accompanied by political reforms, economic growth and reform in China might result in political instability.
(B) In order to ensure future economic growth, China must continue to trade with the United States.
(C) China’s recent economic growth is the result of both improving political relations with the United States and reforms in economic policy.
(D) While positive political developments have been largely responsible for China’s recent economic growth, continued unfettered growth might ironically have adverse political consequences in the future.
(E) The potential for United States exports to China, although great, might be adversely affected in the future by both economic and political factors.