In fact, this is definitely not a unilateral trade preference. Most of the time, it is an equivalent exchange. In China, western businessmen buy western goods, but behind their backs, the West cancels restrictions on the import of a certain business in China, such as textiles and tires. The question is how much western goods China leaders dare to purchase, and the western government can also announce how many planes they let China people buy behind their backs. They dare not announce how many restrictions on other goods they have cancelled because their national interest groups will definitely resist.

When the British delegation expressed the hope that China could substantially expand its imports of British products but refused to accept opium, Zhu Jinglun knew that they had encountered the…