Let's get acquainted with the four countries that bear the proud, pompous name "Asian Tigers", namely - with the group of countries that in the 1990s moved from the group of developing countries to the group of developed ones as a result of industrialization that was successfully carried out in the previous thirty years. How did they do it? What is the past and present of four small states that, in a matter of decades, managed to turn from ordinary developing states on the periphery of civilization into formidable predators of the modern economy? We will learn this by getting to know each of them separately.
Instructions
Step 1
South Korea
A small country with the capital in Seoul, an area of only 100 thousand square kilometers (the size of the Saratov region) and a population of 50 million people. The HDI (Human Development Index) for South Korea is 0.901, that is, very high, and its GDP is $ 1.9 trillion in PPP (14th in the world, Russia is 6th), and 1, 4 trillion dollars at par (11th place in the world, Russia - 12th).
What is the HDI and how do PPP GDP and nominal GDP differ? HDI (Human Development Index), also known as HDI (Human Development Index), is an aggregated index based on three indicators - literacy of the population, life expectancy and GDP per capita in PPP. As for the GDP, they separate GDP (gross domestic product) at PPP (purchasing power parity) and at par. The volume of GDP at par is calculated in national currency and converted into dollars at the official current exchange rate. When calculating GDP at PPP, instead of the official exchange rate, a certain "real" exchange rate is used, their purchasing power parity, calculated on the basis of a comparison of prices for more than 3, 5 thousand goods in national currency and in dollars. In developing countries, the GDP at PPP can be many times higher than the nominal, for example, in Russia it is more than 3 times higher than the GDP at par. In developed countries, the difference is much smaller. For the United States, the PPP GDP is always equal to the nominal GDP, since the dollar is its national currency. But we digress, back to our … tigers.
Despite the scarcity of natural resources, the "country of morning freshness" has a developed industry - it ranks second in the world after China in terms of shipbuilding, the fifth in the world in car production, shares the fifth place with Russia in steelmaking (smelted from Australian iron ore), is one of the world leaders in the production of electrical engineering, machine tool construction, has achieved success in biotechnology, is a space power (yes, South Korea has its own Naro cosmodrome and launches its own satellites), and almost a third of its electricity is generated at nuclear power plants (NPPs).
Step 2
How did Koreans come to this? Let's start from afar. In 1895, according to the Shimonoseoki Treaty between China and Japan, the still united Korea freed itself from vassal dependence on China … in order to become a Japanese colony in 1910. When, in 1945, Soviet troops, with the support of American allies, liberated Korean territory, the country was divided along the 38th parallel into two halves, controlled by the Soviet and American interim administration, in order to prepare general Korean elections in the near future … alas, the Cold War dictated a different course of events, and in June 1950, after the provocation of the troops of the South Korean dictator Syngman Rhee, the bloody Korean War began, drawing Chinese and Soviet volunteers into the conflict on the side of the northerners, and on the side of the southerners - US troops and their allies, acting with the sanction of the UN Security Council. The war that ended in 1953 caused colossal damage to the economies of both Koreas. It is worth noting, however, that the South Koreans and their allies blame North Korea for the start of the war, although objective facts (the twofold superiority of the southerners over the northerners in population size, the surviving nuclear monopoly of the United States, the need for the capitalist bloc to stop the expanding pro-Soviet China) indicate that that the capitalist bloc was more interested in starting a war on the Korean Peninsula. In 1961, after joining the Blue House (no need here ha-ha, this is the residence of the South Korean president in Seoul) dictator Park Chung-hee, the father of the "Korean economic miracle" (and not only - Park Geun-hye, who recently lost the presidency during impeachment, is own daughter of Park Chung Hee), the country embarked on the path of economic reforms. With the active participation of the state in the economy, increased spending on R&D, attracting foreign investment, supporting allied relations with the United States, export-oriented economy and state support for chaebols, South Korea has achieved impressive success. If anything, the chaebol is a type of corporation typical of South Korea that has a lot in common with the Japanese zaibatsu. Chaebol is distinguished by its large size, family character (all leadership positions belong to the same family clan) and diversified activities (for example, Hyundai, you know as a machine manufacturer, also has the world's largest shipyard in Ulsan). Lotte, Samsung, KIA, LG, Daewoo and other South Korean companies you know are chaebols.
However, not everything is as rosy for South Korea as it might seem. Its relations with its northern neighbor are a hotbed of international tension, and the DPRK's acquisition of the status of a nuclear power, coupled with incessant provocations from the Republic of Korea, only heats up the situation. Both countries do not recognize each other, officially considering the other "rebel territories". Also, South Korea, like any other developed country, is experiencing the problems of an aging population, environmental pollution, and a lack of natural resources.
Step 3
Hsianggang
Also, this special administrative region of China, with an area of only 2.5 thousand kilometers (less than half of Moscow) and a population of 7.5 million people is sometimes called Hong Kong. In 1898, Britain imposed a 99-year lease on Hong Kong on China, in 1941 it came under Japanese control, but in 1945 returned to the tenacious English paws, where he stayed until 1997, when the “lease” expired. Now Hong Kong as part of the PRC, however, enjoys the broadest autonomy: in fact, the Hong Kong authorities are independent in everything except external relations.
Under British rule, Hong Kong was an important trading post used by the British for trade with China. After the end of the civil war in China, refugees and capital flowed here from the mainland, which gave impetus to the industrialization developing here. Thanks to low taxes and minimal government intervention in the economy, investments from developed countries rushed here, and Western entrepreneurs began to transfer their industrial production here.
As a result, Hong Kong now has a GDP of more than $ 300 billion at par and more than $ 400 at PPP, and its HDI is 0.917. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) is the sixth largest in the world in terms of capitalization (and second in Asia second only to the Tokyo Stock Exchange), Hong Kong has a developed financial sector, is famous for the chemical industry, manufacturing, watches, toys and a number of household goods, as well as the production of electronics, which is an area of its international specialization, and has a port that is one of the three largest container ports in the world. Also, Hong Kong is characterized by the superiority of the volume of foreign trade over the volume of GDP by several times, due to the intermediary role of the region in trade between China and other countries.
Step 4
Taiwan
The Republic of China covers an area of 35 thousand square kilometers (slightly less than the Yaroslavl region), of which most falls on the island of Taiwan, which gave the unofficial name to the republic, has a population of 23, 5 million people, its capital is Taipei.
A primordially Chinese island, Taiwan (or Formosa, as the Portuguese called it), in the 17th century managed to stay under Dutch and Spanish control for several decades, and in 1895, under the terms of the already familiar Shimonoseki Peace Treaty between Japan and China, it became part of Japan, where was until 1945, when it was returned to China … however, immediately after the end of World War II, a civil war interrupted by the Japanese invasion broke out again in China between the current government, represented by the Kuomintang party under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, and the rebel movement led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under the leadership of Mao Zedong. The Communists took over, and in 1949 the CPC proclaimed the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and the leadership of the Kuomintang Party, taking a significant part of China's gold reserves, was forced to take refuge in Taiwan. Probably, the island, like Nepal, Bhutan and the Indian part of the Himalayas, would have expected the fate of Tibet, liberated by the PRC army in 1950, but, alas, the Korean War broke out, forcing the PRC to stop expansion.
Starting in the 1950s under Chiang Kai-shek, and then under his son Jiang Ching-kuo (who studied for 12 years in the Soviet Union), Taiwan's economy went through the path of industrialization thanks to successful agrarian reforms, state protectionist policies, foreign investment and American defense assistance.
Step 5
In the international economy, Taiwan specializes in the production of electronics, in particular, PCs, laptops and radios, in the production of plastics and polymers, as well as in textiles. With a PPP GDP of a trillion dollars and a nominal GDP of half a trillion, Taiwan's economy is considered to be about the 20th largest in the world.
Politically, the Republic of China is a partially recognized state, which is officially recognized by only two dozen countries. The PRC considers the territory of Taiwan to be its own, however, due to the US patronage over Formosa, it cannot establish de facto control over this territory. Nevertheless, political contradictions do not prevent the island's close economic ties with the mainland - for example, China is Taiwan's largest trading partner.
Step 6
Singapore
The Republic of Singapore is a city-state with an area of only 7 hundred square kilometers (even the area of the city of Sevastopol is even larger) and a population of more than 5 million people. The leading role in the life of the originally Malay state belongs to "huaqiao" - ethnic Chinese, descendants of immigrants from the Middle Kingdom, playing in Southeast Asia a role similar to the role of Jews in Europe and America. Their share in the population of Singapore, according to various estimates, ranges from half to three quarters. The flow of huaqiao to the countries of Southeast Asia especially increased after the end of the civil war in China, which was one of the reasons for the acceleration of their economic growth due to the flow of their capital along with the newcomers, that is, the civil war in China, as we see, influenced the fate and this "tiger".
Since the beginning of the 19th century, "Lion City" (as the name of the state is translated from Sanskrit) was under British control, in 1942 more than 80 thousandth garrison inscribed another shameful page in the history of British arms, surrendering to the 36,000th corps of the Japanese army. By 1945, the city was occupied by the Japanese, at the end of the war it was under British rule and even spent two years as part of Malaysia before becoming an independent state in 1965.
A strategically important port on the Strait of Malacca sea route, Singapore has long been a center for intermediary trade. Thanks to the economic policy pursued by the local dictator Lee Kuan Yew, investments and industrial production flowed into the country, and today Singapore has developed electrical and chemical industries (a large oil refining center is located here), and is also an important financial center due to low tax rates. … PPP GDP totals half a trillion dollars, nominal GDP - 300 billion. The HDI is also very high - 0.925.
Step 7
Outcome
"Asian Tigers" have the following common features:
1) favorable economic and geographical location
2) active attraction of foreign capital for many years, which was facilitated by the low cost of labor
3) during the Cold War, focusing on cooperation with the United States as the most solvent superpower
4) focusing on the development of high-tech production, mainly on the production of electronics, plastics and polymers
5) long-term protectionist policies (except for Hong Kong, recognized as the area with the highest level of economic freedom in the world)
6) the long-term stay of authoritarian regimes in power, which ensured the most effective management of the available limited resources
7) the rapid development in recent years of economic ties with the PRC
8) a high rate of gross saving, the possession of solid gold and foreign exchange reserves - for example, the volume of international reserves of both Taiwan and Hong Kong is usually estimated slightly higher than the reserves of the Russian Federation, which, in turn, slightly exceed South Korean ones, and Singapore's gold and foreign exchange reserves are almost equal to those of Brazil
9) A significant role in the international tourism market, mainly due to business tourism. It stands out with 26.5 million tourists a year (this is more than the annual flow of tourists to Greece!) Hong Kong, where some types of gambling business are allowed, which are prohibited in the rest of China, except for Macau (Macau), which helps to attract Chinese tourists here.
