ABSTRACT
The rise of Asia, particularly East Asia, is due largely to its sustained high economic growth. According to the World Bank, East Asia recorded gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates of 8.3 per cent in 2011, 7.5 per cent in 2012 and an estimated 7.9 per cent in 2013. By comparison, the eurozone, still gripped by the Euro crisis, grew by 1.5 per cent in 2011, and shrank by 0.4 per cent in 2012, with an estimated decrease in GDP of 0.1 per cent in 2013. The comparative figures for the USA, still recovering from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, were 1.8 per cent for 2011, 2.2 per cent for 2012 and an estimated 1.9 per cent for 2013 (World Bank 2013a). Increasingly, the centre of the global economy no longer resides in Europe or North America but in Asia, in particular, East Asia.
