China's Industrial Relocation Strengthens Bilateral Global Value Chain Linkages: Evidence from Multi-Country Sector-Level Analysis

China's Industrial Relocation Strengthens Bilateral Global Value Chain Linkages: Evidence from Multi-Country Sector-Level Analysis | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article China's Industrial Relocation Strengthens Bilateral Global Value Chain Linkages: Evidence from Multi-Country Sector-Level Analysis Minglong Kou, Yu Zhang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7573857/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract As China's industrial relocation (ITR) plays a crucial role in shaping global value chain (GVC) linkages, yet its bilateral impacts remain underexplored. This study examines the "anchor effect" of China's ITR on bilateral GVC linkages using a dynamic panel model with data from 74 countries and 43 industries between 1995 and 2020. We find that ITR significantly enhances bilateral GVC linkages, with heterogeneous effects across countries and industries. Mechanism tests reveal that improvements in GVC division efficiency and technological innovation are key transmission channels. These findings provide empirical support for China's "going out" strategy and offer policy insights for enhancing GVC resilience under the new development paradigm. Humanities/Complex networks Social science/Complex networks Business and commerce/Economics Social science/Economics Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences Scientific community and society/Geography Social science/Geography Industrial relocation Global value chain Bilateral linkage Technological innovation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files data.epl.xlsx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7573857","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":588154034,"identity":"867a683f-d587-4ae4-94fc-6822b53a321c","order_by":0,"name":"Minglong Kou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Huaiyin Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Minglong","middleName":"","lastName":"Kou","suffix":""},{"id":588154035,"identity":"daa09727-91ac-4834-88f8-a58045d510ec","order_by":1,"name":"Yu Zhang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAtUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACNoYDYIq9sfHhB9K08BxuNpYgVgsESKS3CfAQo8HgRlriYd62bdF8kg/bGCQY7OR0GwhrOQDUcju3TTqx7UEBQ7Kx2QGCWtIbYFraDSQYDiRuI16L5ME2CR7itMAcJsFIpBbJM88SDs45B9TCkwgMZAMi/MJ3PM34w5uy27nz248/fPihwk6OoBYFoAImRHQYEFAOAvINDAyMP4hQOApGwSgYBSMYAACmQEldgnJqWQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yu","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-09 12:38:21","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7573857/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7573857/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103310549,"identity":"9f8e04d8-36d5-4eb8-a1d6-40dec9ce7160","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-24 09:58:28","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":480421,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7573857/v1_covered_36913fb5-da3f-4ebb-87d9-5bdf410cbeb0.pdf"},{"id":102412170,"identity":"bcdf4d28-4a80-4528-9a4b-0f0585ad36f3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-11 12:12:31","extension":"xlsx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":31091877,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"data.epl.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7573857/v1/47de34079e821f62af03e4a5.xlsx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"China's Industrial Relocation Strengthens Bilateral Global Value Chain Linkages: Evidence from Multi-Country Sector-Level Analysis","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Industrial relocation, Global value chain, Bilateral linkage, Technological innovation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7573857/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7573857/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAs China's industrial relocation (ITR) plays a crucial role in shaping global value chain (GVC) linkages, yet its bilateral impacts remain underexplored. 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