Abstract

The sustained economic growth of East and South-East Asia, in the context of the global financial crisis in 2008 and the continuing problems in the eurozone as a result of the debt crisis in Greece in 2010, have strengthened the view that East and South-East Asia are emerging in the 21st century as the most economically vibrant region in the world. With the world’s second and third largest economies, and generally high economic growth rates (Japan excepted) compared to the rest of the world, it is unsurprising that the region has become the subject of global interest. Asia’s ascent in the global landscape is reflected in projections made by Goldman Sachs, which predicted in 2003 that the three largest economies in the world by 2050 would be the People’s Republic of China, followed by the USA and India. Furthermore, China’s economy would overtake the USA by 2041 (Goldman Sachs 2003: 3–4). However, this prediction has been proven to be conservative. As a result of sustained high economic growth, China officially overtook Japan in 2010 to become the world’s second largest economy, and if present trends continue, is on course to overtake the USA as the world’s largest economy much earlier, between 2020 and 2030 ( The Guardian 2011). China is also steering its economy away from exports and towards domestic consumption, leading to predictions that it would become the world’s top market destination for consumer goods by 2020 (CNN 2010).