abstract
- © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019. Since 1978, China has been implementing various reforms aimed at free trade and towards the promotion of exports as an engine of economic development (Chow 1987; Chow and Lin 2002). Due to this, in the last 25 years the role of the Asian giant as the main exporter and importer has increased globally (Mah 2005; Mbaku 1989). Up to the year 2017, China¿s participation in both areas exceeds the annual average of 10% (Durán and Pellandra 2017).