This fault lies with the US. Trade and relations normalization was a Cold War strategy to capitalize on the Dino-soviet split and weaken the communist block.

This fault lies with the US. Trade and relations normalization was a Cold War strategy to capitalize on the Dino-soviet split and weaken the communist block. Effectively the us threw open the gates on the hypothesis that it would be a Cold War win and that China would eventually liberalize. This problem was well understood by the 90s but the war on terror ultimately blocked any US policy shifts.