Trace the evolution of China's economic policy from the Maoist era to the Deng Xiaoping reforms, and assess its implications for India's economic diplomacy.

The death of Mao Tse-tung on 9 September 1976 [1] closed China's autarkic, mass-mobilisation phase and cleared the way for Deng Xiaoping's market reforms — a shift that turned a low-income peer of India into the world's manufacturing hub, permanently reshaping India's economic diplomacy.

Maoist era (1949–76): command economy and self-reliance

• Collectivised agriculture and state ownership, with the Great Leap Forward (1958–62) and Cultural Revolution (1966–76) subordinating productivity to ideology.
• Near-isolation from world trade; Mao's death and the arrest of the "Gang of Four" ended the radical faction's dominance [1].

Deng era (1978 onwards): reform and opening up

• Household responsibility system, dual-track pricing and Special Economic Zones (Shenzhen) introduced markets within one-party rule.
• Outcome: growth averaging over 9% a year since 1978, lifting nearly 800 million people out of extreme poverty [2].
• Consolidated by WTO accession on 11 December 2001 as the 143rd member, locking China into global trade rules [3].

Implications for India's economic diplomacy

• Timing gap: China's 1978 opening preceded India's 1991 reforms by over a decade, explaining the manufacturing deficit India now addresses through PLI and Make in India.
• Asymmetric trade: China remains among India's top import sources, imports rising 11.52% in FY 2024-25 [4]; the large bilateral deficit exposes India to abrupt supply disruption [5].
• Strategic dependence: China's near-monopoly in critical and rare earth minerals threatens India's renewable energy programme, pushing critical-mineral diplomacy and supply-chain partnerships [5].
• Calibrated engagement: the Economic Survey concedes India must plug into China's supply chains even as security screening limits inbound FDI [5].

China's arc from autarky to integration shows that sustained openness, not ideological insulation, delivers scale. India's diplomacy should therefore pair de-risking through diversification with pragmatic engagement, building manufacturing competitiveness towards Viksit Bharat 2047 and SDG-9 on resilient industry.