Rapid growth divides Asia in two

Rapid economic growth has divided Asia into two groups: one rich and dynamic, the other poor and angry, a regional business leader told a conference in Manila yesterday.

"Reflect on the spectre of an Asia divided: one (group) dynamic, prosperous... one, marginalized, festering with discontent," warned Timothy Ong Teck Mong, who has served as an official in various Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) business councils.

Ong, chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board, said Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore made up the first group of wealthier countries with China and India now joining as well.

"Large parts of Asia are left out of this new economic geography," he said at a conference hosted by the Asian Institue of Management.

He cited the example of South Korea and the Philippines who were on equal footing in the 1950s but with South Korea swiftly growing more prosperous while the Philippines remained a developing country with "unrealized potential." – AFP