Trade Interdependence And The Power Generated

Interdependence refers to a state of mutual influence between the actors. Thisstate can exist between individuals, organizations or countries. Interdependentphenomenon has existed for a long time, since the history of mankind there has beeninterdependence between people in order to maintain the survive. However, theinterdependence of research in the field of international relations started from thelatter half of the last century. And compared to the long history of the interdependentphenomena, the research of interdependence is still not perfect. In the field ofinternational relations, the research of interdependence is more inclined to empiricalstudy, which discussing the phenomenon of interdependence and constructing theconcept of the interdependence. The study of sensitivity and vulnerability tointerdependence is one of such an example. Of course, these two concepts is quitecomplex and indeed difficult to be quantified. From the perspective of empiricalresearch, this type of research can only analyze the approximate trend of theinterdependence, and can not accurately describe the interdependent imbalance,meanwhile no clear indicate the logic of the relationship between interdependence topower.The positive methods can be used in the research of Interdependence, especiallyin the economic sphere this reflected more obviously. The positive method is better toanalyse the appearance of the interdependence. This paper take the positivistperspective, based on the fact that the interdependence in the economic sphere wasmore obvious, try to introduce the economics analysis concepts and methods to thestudy of interdependence. On one side this can make analysis of the interdependencemore accurate and not superficially, on the other side, we can have a better grasp ofimbalance of interdependence. The imbalance of interdependence has a crucial role inthe logic from the imbalance interdependence to the power generation. The imbalanceis the prerequisite and basis for interdependence to produce power.Power resources is an intermediate link in the process from interdependence tothe power. Imbalance interdependent can not directly produce power. It can onlyproduce power resources, or potential power. Unbalanced interdependence mayappear in many fields. In addition to the spheres of political and military that theinterdependence would show a direct link with the power, in most other areas imbalance interdependence are not directly related to power. For example, ineconomic sphere today, the economic contradictions between the countries areimpossible to upgrade to the political struggle between countries, even the war. Thus,this non-direct contact to power of imbalance interdependence, including the logicfrom the unbalanced interdependence to the power generated is the commonphenomenon in the research process of interdependence and power. This is exactlyignored by most scholars. The use of power resources provided by the unbalancedinterdependence is not arbitrary. Using this power resources has certain restrictions,such as the strength of link between the problem areas, the opportunity cost and soon. Efficient use of power resources requires careful consideration of many factors.Trade interdependence has the general characteristics of interdependence,meanwhile with the particularity of its own in the economic field. Therefore, in theprocess of analysis of trade interdependence we need to combine the empirical studiesof the general interdependence and positive study of economic field. When we studythe logic of the power generation of trade interdependence, we can use the positiveresearch to support the empirical research. We think that trade interdependence onlyable to affect the national economy may product the power resources. This is also onefeature of the trade interdependence. The method to use this power resources of thisarea is negotiation, rather than the war.In this paper, we take the issue of Sino-US trade and the RMB exchange rate as acase study, and apply the interdependence theory to actual research. Tradeinterdependent relationship between China and the United States is very close. This isan agreement of both sides. However, trade interdependence between China and theUnited States is not, as it showed that China with the advantages occupy a huge tradesurplus On the contrary, the trade imbalance between China and the United States hasprovided more power resources to the United States. There is no necessary connectionbetween the Sino-US trade imbalance interdependence and the RMB exchange rateissue, but this does not prevent the United States from using power resources providedby this imbalance interdependence on the sphere of RMB exchange rate issue to putpressure on China. This is just a specific use of unbalanced interdependence. This isthe aspect which we really need to focus on. We learn from it and use it in the gamewith other countries.