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Rivals to Hong Kong
| Article
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20483 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1992 |
2,576 Words |
| Author
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Julian M. Weiss
Julian M. Weiss has written extensively on business and
international trade and has traveled widely throughout Asia.
His most recent book is The Asian Century (Facts on file,
1989). |
For five days at the end of February, over 120 U.S. aerospace companies joined almost as many European and Japanese leaders in the industry, parading their wares before prospective aircraft buyers in the world's premier aviation trade show. The fact that it was held in Singapore is almost as significant as the event itself. "Singapore is becoming a key player in aerospace," declares Joel Johnson, president of the Aerospace Industries Association, based in Washington, D.C.
Not far away from Singapore in the Malaysian state of Penang, a work force of more than 40,000 is assembling semiconductors and related components.
High-tech aerospace in Singapore? Semiconductors in Malaysia? It's part of the Asian saga--and the odyssey of not only today's "Tigers," but tomorrow's, as well. Aerospace is considered one of Singapore's strategic goals, along with niche markets in biotechnology. For neighboring Malaysia, semiconductors can play a role in ushering that nation towards "Tiger" status, joining a select club. Today's Four Tigers, or Dragons, are Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Each one of these once-impoverished countries has transformed itself into a dynamic economy in a scenario that many others hope to repeat--but that few can.
Singapore's rise. Geographically pint-sized (at 224 square miles), but economically a titan, Singapore sees a role for itself among the handful of postindustrial, information age, technology-based societies in the 1990s.
The city-state called Singapore, a country of only 2.7 million, accounts for $20 billion in two-way trade with the United States. It is the world's largest hard-disk maker; it has Asia's second-highest per capita income (after Japan); its national airline is consistently rated the world's best by jet-hopping frequent flyers. Singapore--"the Lion City"--earned praise from its British colonizers in the nineteenth century when they termed it the "prize jewel" in the queen's crown. Japanese wartime occupation began in 1941; when the war ended in 1945, Singapore's first postwar stamp showed a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Many wondered about that allegory, because even in the early 1960s, recall "Asia hands," the colony was considered incapable of growth and its economy was a basket case. Britain granted Singapore autonomy in 1963, and the city-state opted to become part of Malaysia. Incorporated into the Malaysian confederation, Singapore established itself as a completely
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