Eyes On.... ASIA'S ECONOMIES: Case of Taiwan
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The East Asian economies profiled below generate about 26% of the world's gross domestic product (GDP). Though varying in size and per-capita income (GDP divided by population), most of them enjoyed rapid growth in the 1990s. That growth was interrupted (1997-98), when many of the region's stock and currency markets fell steeply before regaining a toehold on growth. Taiwan's free-market economy was the least affected — in part, because its huge volume of exports to the USA continued to rack up a trade surplus.

Here's a profile of East Asia's leading economies in the new millennium:

Regional Economies	Population	GDP (2001)	Exports as % of GDP
China	1,284.3 million	$5,560 billion	4.7%
Hong Kong*	7.3 million	$180 billion	106.1%**
Indonesia	231.3 million	$687 billion	8.3%
Japan	127.0 million	$3,450 billion	11.7%
Malaysia	22.7 million	$200 billion	47.0%
Philippines	84.5 million	$335 billion	11.0%
Singapore	4.5 million	$106 billion	115.1%**
South Korea	48.3 million	$865 billion	19.4%
TAIWAN	22.5 million	$386 billion	31.6%
Thailand	62.4 million	$410 billion	15.9%

^*Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. ^**High percent includes large re-export of goods arriving from Country "A," on their way to Country "C." Source: CIA World Factbook. 2002.