“The present world is an open one. China’s past backwardness was due to its closed-door policy [to trade]. After the founding of the People’s Republic, we were blockaded by others and so the country remained closed to some extent, which created great difficulties for us. We are suggesting that we should develop a little faster and open up to the outside. So, we have opened fourteen medium and large coastal cities to foreign investment, manufacturing, and trade. Our socialist economic base is so huge that it can absorb tens and hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign funds without shaking our socialist foundations. Thus, foreign investment will serve as a major supplement to the building of socialism in our country. We believe that the road we have chosen—building socialism with Chinese characteristics—is the right one. We have followed this road for five and a half years and the pace of development has so far exceeded our expectations.”

Deng Xiaoping, leader of the communist party of China, speech to a Japanese delegation, 1984

Which of the following economic developments in the late twentieth century could best be cited to explain a limitation of the path of economic development alluded to in the passage?

a. Although China liberalized its economy, it often used its newly created wealth to increase its influence in various world regions, such as Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, often with controversial results.
b. While Asian states such as China experienced economic growth because of liberal economic reforms, agricultural subsidies in Western nations prevented rural areas from experiencing the same rates of growth as urban areas.
c. While economic liberalization in Asian states such as China made Asia a center of global manufacturing, Western states became knowledge economies, which allowed for higher wages and standards of living for their populations.
d. Although China enacted economic reforms, the state maintained tight control over much of the economy, which in some cases allowed bureaucrats to prevent market distortions and transfer capital to important firms quickly.