ABSTRACT
The thrust of East Asia on the world scene has caught the attention of various sectors of the international academic community as well as decision-makers in the world’s economic and political centres. Although predictions of European decline relative to Asia were made in the past, present-day claims, according to which the next century will see a shift of the core of world capitalism from the Atlantic to the Pacific, have become actualized by the economic growth of the East Asian area, first in Japan, then in the ‘Four Tigers’ (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong) and then among the ASEAN countries. Last but not least, China has entered the race of economic growth and is being followed by Vietnam.
