Vol. 3, Issue 7, Part P (2017)

Abstract
The paper analyzes export performance of China over the period of 1992 to 2014. The entire manufacturing exports have been segregated into four categories using Lall (2000) classification on the basis of their technological characteristics. SITC-3 digit data has been used as a proxy for export industries. The study tests whether there has been a structural change in exports across all four groups in the form of increase or decrease in specialization during the period of study i.e. 1992 to 2014 which is further segregated into two sub-periods 1992 to 2002 and 2002 to 2014 to assess the impact of China’s WTO accession in 2001 on structural change of its exports. The study also tests the new trade theory which states that the pattern of comparative advantage changes with the technology accumulation and with the change in resource endowment over the period of time, i.e. specialization in high-tech exports increase and in low-tech exports decrease. The paper uses Revealed Comparative Advantage index, Revealed symmetric comparative advantage index, Wald test and regression analysis for drawing inferences. Based on the analysis, this paper supports the prediction of the new trade theory.