Tokyo Ginza district Yoshikazu Tsuno/Getty Images

The End of Asia’s Strategic Miracle?

Asia's contemporary "economic miracle" rests on the fact that relative peace and order have been maintained in the region since the end of the Vietnam War. But the factors underpinning that stability have started to give way, which poses a serious threat to not just Asia, but the entire world.

TOKYO – It is too soon to know whether and how the challenge posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs will be resolved. But it is not too early to consider what that challenge could mean for a part of the world that has in many ways defied history.

The moniker “Asian Miracle” goes some way toward conveying just how extraordinary the last half-century of economic growth in many Asian countries has been. The first economy to take off was Japan, which, despite a slowdown in recent decades and a relatively small population, remains the world’s third-largest economy.

China’s ascent began a bit later, but is no less impressive: the country achieved over three decades of double-digit average GDP growth, making it the world’s second-largest economy today. India, soon to be the world’s most populous country, has lately been experiencing an impressive 7-8% annual rate of GDP growth. And the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations averaged some 5% growth in recent years.

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