Il ruolo dell'embargo strategico nelle relazioni tra Europa occidentale e Repubblica Popolare Cinese negli anni '50

This chapter focuses on the strategic embargo that NATO countries adhered to during the Cold War in order to curb the military action (and development of certain sensitive sectors) of the Soviet bloc countries and the People's Republic of China (PRC). In particular, it will analyse in practice how sanctions (and possible exemptions) were decided and applied in the case of the embargo on China and highlight some dynamics of the governmental and economic actors involved. The proposed analysis fits into the historiographical debate on the first Cold War, shedding light on two interconnected issues: the relationship between Western Europe and China in the years immediately preceding the blossoming of the economic miracle; the role of foreign economic relations in the project of institutional and economic (re)construction carried out by the Chinese Communist Party after 1949.