Introduction

The larger backdrop to the international dimensions of technological development in Greater China is the evolving debates on the merits, importance and feasibility of technology transfer in the process of economic development globally. In the immediate post-World War II period when faith in economic planning, albeit Keynesian rather than central planning, was at its height in Western market economies, developmental economists, such as Lewis, Prebisch, Rosenstein-Rodan and Hirschman, to varying degrees regarded state involvement in technology development to be important, perhaps essential, and were concerned about terms of trade working to the disadvantage of developing countries (Rodrik 2011). Among these economists, there was a general emphasis on state involvement to overcome market failures rife in emerging economies. The neo-liberal revolution of the 1980s affected development economics as well and gave rise to the Washington Consensus that assigned blame for the lack of development to government failure rather than market failure. According to this prescription, markets malfunction in the developing world due to government interference. Remove state interference and markets, and terms of trade would work to the advantage of developing countries.