A turning point for the East Asian region

Thirty years ago, China reached a historic turning point and launched a major change in policy: moving from a closed to an open society and from a planned to a market economy; and through this change achieved an average, annual growth rate of 9.8 percent.

China is now the third largest trading country in the world. Last year it surpassed Germany to become the third largest economy.

However, China was not the only country in the East Asian region to achieve an impressive rate of development; since 1960 most countries have experienced fast growth. As a result, East Asia has a greater presence in the world economy: it has increased from 8.9 percent in 1965 to 14 percent in 1980 and continued to grow to 20 percent in 2006 (the last year that statistics are available). In the past 30 years, the region has experienced the highest growth rate in the world.