ABSTRACT
The surging Pacific Basin can legitimately be regarded as the most economically dynamic region of the globe. The transformation of the Pacific began, of course, in Japan. Since 1982, for example, International Monetary Fund figures indicate that two-way trade across the Pacific has handily surpassed trans-Atlantic trade. By 1983, intra-Pacific trade had dramatically increased and, by 1988, was worth twice the Pacific countries’ trade with the United States, and three times their commerce with Europe. Across the Pacific rim, Canada did more business in the Pacific in 1987 than with its usual European trading partners. Even by 1986, the phenomenal growth rate of Japan had dropped, housing shortages remained unmet, and the graying of the Japanese population propelled a steady rise in the cost of social services. Japan and Hong Kong laid heavy bets on China’s future. Although poor on a per capita basis, plagued by inflation, and vacillating in its political direction, China already exhibited its potential economic strength.
