New Delhi,June,19:The countries surrounding the Pacific Ocean have created an economic wonder and together known as the Pacific Rim.In 1944 the famous geographer N.J. Spykman postulated a theory about the “rim” of Eurasia. He said that those who control of the rimland,will control of the world. Now, more than fifty years later we can see that part of his theory holds true, since the power of the Pacific Rim is quite phenomenal.
The Pacific Rim includes countries bordering the Pacific Ocean from North and South America to Asia to Oceania. Most of these countries have gone through transitional change in their economy and formed an economically integrated trade region. Raw material and finished goods are shipped between Pacific Rim nations for manufacture, packaging, and marketing.
The Pacific Rim has got great say in global economy due to their consumption, manufacturing and resources. Since the colonization of the Americas, the Atlantic Ocean had been the leading ocean for the shipment of goods and material but in the early 1990s, the value of goods crossing the Pacific Ocean has exceeded of the value of goods crossing the Atlantic. Los Angeles is the US pivot in the Pacific Rim as it’s the source for the most trans-Pacific flights and ocean-based shipments. Additionally, the value of US imports from Pacific Rim countries is higher than the imports from NATO partners in Europe.
Economic Tigers
Four Pacific Rim nation including South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong have been called “Economic Tigers” due to their aggressive economies. Since Hong Kong has been assimilated as the Chinese territory of Xianggang, it is likely that its status as a tiger will change. The four Economic Tigers have even challenged Japan’s dominance of the Asian economy and recently Japan has no longer the second largest economy.
South Korea’s economic strength and industrial development are associated with their manufacturing power of white goods, textiles and automobiles. The country larger than Taiwan and has been consistently shifting from its agricultural base to industries. South Koreans are workaholic; their average workweek is close to 50 hours.
Taiwan,is a tiger on the accounts of its major industries and aggressive entrepreneurial initiative. China consistently claiming the island and the mainland and island are technically at different set of war. If in the future in accepts a merger, hopefully it will be a peaceful one. The island is about 14,000 square miles and has a prime focus on its northern coast; around the capital city of Taipei. Their economy of this island is the twentieth largest in the world.
The island city-state Singapore started its move as an entrepot, or free port for transshipment of goods, for the Malay Peninsula. After the independence in 1965 with tight governmental control and an excellent location, Singapore has effectively utilized its limited land area (240 square miles) to emerge as the leader in industrialization.
Hong Kong incorporated as the part of China on July 1, 1997 after being territory of the United Kingdom for 99 years. The event of the merger of one of the world’s outstanding examples of capitalism with a communism was watched by the entire world despite the transition, Hong Kong, which had one of the highest GNP’s per capita in the world, continues to maintain their official languages of English and the Cantonese dialect. The dollar continues to be in use however it no longer bears the portrait of Queen Elizabeth. A provisional legislature has been installed in Hong Kong and they have set the limits on opposition activities and have reduced the proportion of the population eligible to vote. Hopefully, additional change won’t be too significant for the people.
China is strongly galloping to foray into the Pacific Rim with big sized Special Economic Zones (SEZ) offers and Open Coastal Areas with special incentives for the investors. These areas are scattered along China’s coast and now Hong Kong is one of these zones which also includes China’s largest city, Shanghai.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization is the group of 18 Pacific Rim countries. These are the producer of about 80% of the world’s computer and high tech instruments. The member of APEC of, which has a small administrative headquarters, include: China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, and the United States. APEC was formed in 1989 to promote free trade and economic cooperation among the member nations. The heads of state of the member nations met in 1993 and in 1996 while trade officials hold the annual meetings.
From Chile to Canada and Korea to Australia, the Pacific Rim a region on watch list as barriers between the countries are weakening and population grows not only in Asia but also along the Pacific coast of the Americas. The cross dependency is likely to increase but can all of the countries win
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