"Asian Tiger" - an unofficial name for the economies of South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan

Tiger is a large mammal of the Cat family. Of land predators in size, it is second only to white and brown bears. It is associated with strength, speed, power.

Among the six subspecies of this animal that remain in the living nature, there is no one about which it could be said that this is an "Asian tiger". Although the Amur and Bengali, Indochinese and Malay, Sumatran and Chinese, in principle, are large Asian cats.

Good title

To what specific kind or phenomenon is the commonly used term used and, in general, what are called "Asian tigers"? It is clear that the designated objects are in Asia. "Tigers" are countries. The economy of the four states - Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea - made such a powerful leap in its development in the period from the 60s to the 90s of the last century that each of the above countries received an unofficial name in the world media - "Asian Tiger" . They are also called "East Asian tigers", or "four Asian small dragons".

And the comparison of growing economies with tigers has become so established that there are still "four new Asian tigers" - Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, which have been developing very successfully in recent years. "Celtic Tiger" denoted the growing economy of Ireland, "Balkan" - Serbia, "Tatran" - Slovakia, "Latin American" - Chile. There was even the term "Baltic tiger", but somewhere it disappeared.

The main asset

Legendary "Asian tigers" (the first wave countries) had many common features in their economic policy. First, there were outstanding leaders in power. Thanks to their common sense, a wise strategy was chosen, dictated by the geography, history and foreign policy of these countries. Secondly, all the "Asian tigers" (the countries of Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong) are deprived of minerals. But it happened so historically that the main trump card, which allowed to make an unprecedented leap in the economy, has been and remains for centuries forged by traditional Confucian education and hardened by hard work in rice fields, a cheap and incredibly disciplined workforce. This phenomenon was called "Far Eastern character", the main features of which are: industriousness, obedience, an incredible cult of education and social progress, and an orientation toward family values was also important.

A distinctive feature of foreign policy

Countries classified as "Asian tigers" of the first wave had several other common features. Authorities were in authoritarian regimes, and the state was very actively interfering in the economy, however, in Hong Kong, capitalism was closer to the liberal ideal. It should be noted that the active, ardent, militant anti-Soviet policy of these countries contributed greatly to the "economic miracle". In return, the West provided all-round financial and technological assistance.

Features of Taiwan's economy

These were common features inherent in states known as "Asian tigers". The countries listed above had, of course, significant differences in their development. For example, Taiwan relied on the predominant development of small and medium-sized businesses, whose products labeled "Made in Taiwan" flooded the world. Geographically speaking, it is an island in the Pacific Ocean, 150 km from the eastern part of China. In economic and political terms - it is a partially recognized state - the Republic of China. This is what is meant by the name "small Asian tiger" (Taiwan).

Founding father

It is interesting that the successful leader of Taiwan, who elected for two terms - Jiang Jingguo, in which there was an economic breakthrough, the personality was more than remarkable. The son of Chiang Kai-shek, having gone to study in Moscow, lived with his elder sister Anna Ilyinichna Ulyanova-Yelizarova, and even took her name-Elizarov. Jiang Jingguo was chairman of the collective farm outside Moscow and worked for Uralmash, which did not prevent him, after returning to his homeland and heading the government of Taiwan, to brutally suppress pro-communist speeches. Annual GDP growth during the 60-90-ies with him was 6.7%.

The driving force behind Taiwan's economy

Counting on cheap labor, many Western companies moved their enterprises to countries designated as "Asian tigers". Taiwan was one of them. The locomotive of the economy for almost 40 years was foreign trade, 98% of which were manufactured goods. This country has established trade relations with 60 countries. Taiwan lacked its own energy, the country exported it to 98%. Now there are built 3 nuclear power plants, which provide more than 20% of national consumption and put the country on the 15th place among the states-users of nuclear energy. Not everything was smooth in the way of accelerated development.

Blessed years

In the 50 years, the US provided the island nation with strong financial support (30% of all investments in the country). First, the government took the policy of import substitution, which gave a strong impetus to the development of the industrial sector. Then, after the saturation of the domestic market, the country's economy began to expand towards export expansion.

Emerging in the country export-industrial zones (the first - Kaohsiung) contributed to the improvement of scientific and technical capacity.

We also survived the crisis

Within the limits of one generation's life, Taiwan's "Asian Tiger" was born and incredibly mature. The country survived in the difficult for her 70-ies, when she was expelled from the UN and was in international isolation, as the US to her completely cooled down. However, the government carried out 10 projects in the field of industry, transport and nuclear energy, which allowed the development of heavy industry. Even the Asian crisis of 1997 had little to do with Taiwan. The symbol of an economic miracle in this country is the skyscraper "Taipei-101", the second tallest building in the world.

Singapore - Asian Diamond

Another country of the four - Singapore - the "Asian Tiger". It is believed that it will not be possible to repeat the "economic miracle" of this island state (63 islands) for another 50 years. The father of the "miracle" is the recently deceased Lee Kuan Y. Due to his policy, the country, which does not even have its own drinking water, is now a state with the best education, taxation and health systems. This state of banks, unseen skyscrapers and magnificent highways. One of the first steps of a brilliant lawyer was a brutal fight against corruption, despite the fact that it is a feature of the Asian way of life. In this struggle, he won. From the outset, the government has taken a course to improve the quality of life, one of the main goals in this direction was to provide each Singaporean with his own housing. The father of the nation died in the spring of 2015, he reigned supreme over the country for more than 30 years. With him, said goodbye for a week, grateful residents of the country defended 8-hour queues.

Member of the G20

The "Asian tigers" also include South Korea and Hong Kong. The father-transformer of the first of these countries is Pak Jong-hee, who came to power in 1961 as a result of a military coup. The peculiarity of the economic leap of South Korea is the initial orientation toward the creation of large multi-profile family holdings "chebol". It was a copy of the pre-war policy of imperial Japan. The state did not just unceremoniously invade the business - it was under full control.

Pak Jong-hee personally selected several firms in various sectors of the economy and made a bet on them, providing them with unprecedented state support, for which he skillfully attracted huge foreign investments. The economy of this Asian country is one of the largest in the world. The disinterestedness of the general became a legend. A fighter against corruption, he demanded from the leadership of the "Chebol" full and unquestioning obedience to the interests of the state. And these family holdings have become world-famous brands, such as Samsung, LG, Daewoo, Hyundai, KIA and others. When the G20 was established in 1999, South Korea entered there by right.

The phenomenon of Hong Kong

The fourth "small Asian tiger" is Hong Kong, which since 1997 is part of China, but enjoys the widest possible autonomy. It is the richest city in the PRC.

The driving force behind its economic leap is the business climate, the conditions created for doing business. In order to attract as much money as possible to the country, all barriers to technology and capital have been destroyed in Hong Kong. The maximum number of corrupt officials has decreased, the tax rate has dropped, excessive bureaucracy has been destroyed. And money poured into this city, which is the world's largest number of offices, because in the ranking of countries with the highest index of economic freedoms Hong Kong occupies the first line. Here is the largest concentration of billionaires - 3 per 1 million population. The indicator is the highest in the world. In this city absolutely everything is in private hands, and the authorities have nothing to do with business. Not all countries in this region are "Asian tigers". Japan and China do not belong to them, but along with the "small dragons" they are the richest countries in Asia and not only.