Varieties of contestation: China’s rise and the liberal trade order

This article reassesses whether, and if so how and why, China contests the WTO’s liberal trade order. Our framework on ‘varieties of contestation’ goes beyond the mainstream view of a monolithic Chinese trade policy that either challenges or supports the liberal trade order. We propose a two-step approach that allows for a more differentiated assessment. First, a constructivist analysis captures the extent to which China embraces liberal trade...