ABSTRACT
Asia’s economic transformation is due to the West. Without Western markets the Asian miracle would not have happened. Neither would China have emerged as the manufacturing hub of the global economy. Without access to rich markets, the continent’s transformation would have been much slower. It is ironic that, after centuries of exploitative colonialism, the West has been the engine of Asian growth. The Asian embrace of globalisation has restructured the world. Rapid economic expansion has provided the base for altering international power relations. India, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, and China are, to varying degrees, powerful global actors. Sustaining Asian prosperity will, however, require deepening of technological and economic relations with the West. Technological collaboration will be critical across many areas, including a lower carbon accompanying the pace of rapid Asian development.
