East Asia in Transition: Economic and Security Challenges

Gary Watson is a former lecturer in Chinese studies at Queen’s University and is now a multimedia developer in Mississauga.

Like many in the development “business,” the contributors to this
volume pose a basic question: What factors will influence sustainable
long-term growth in East Asia economies in the years ahead? The usual
factors under consideration typically involve political stability,
conservative policy environments for the private sector, stress on
export-led growth, a steady influx of foreign technology and capital,
and a sometimes all-too-close “cooperation” between government and
business.

This type of analysis, though capable of mapping macroeconomic and
macropolitical performance, has been sorely tested by the impact of
factors rarely under any economy’s control. Beginning with the
region’s 1997–98 crisis, followed first by the 2000–01 collapse in
the U.S. economy and later by the recessionary fallout of the September
11 terrorist attacks, East Asia’s “miracle” economies showed
unanticipated weakness and institutional malaise in the aftermath of
these downdrafts. This was poignantly evident in the case of China and
its government’s fumbling of the recent SARS crisis, which left
widespread concern about the reliability of official statistics and the
relative lack of enforceable regulations governing not just disease
control but economic activity as well.

Although the individual chapters are largely summaries of the
authors’ longer monographic works, they do serve as working
introductions to complex issues and provide a wealth of bibliographic
leads for researchers. Each of the volume’s six chapters stresses
significant issues facing the region that multinational businesses and
governments should grasp. While at times too technical for a general
audience, East Asia in Transition does succeed in defining the broad
parameters that affect the performance of these dynamic economies.