[AIG]

Probably, 20-30 years ago, Korea's per-capita GDP was the same as China's today. But in 2-3 decades, look at how far Korea has come. If anything, China's got everything Korea has in terms of exporting capability but also a much larger domestic market. Politically, most E. Asian "tigers" followed a one-party, authoritarian path of economic development as well. Given a choice between democratic Russia and India and authoritarian E. Asia, it's obvious which path China prefers.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #38

Leaders of China are not clones of Lee Kuan-Yew. I do not discount that, in the business of catching up with front-runners, top-down reform can be done effectively as long as ruling elites can maintain some integrity. That is the case of Singapore. Old German empire and post-war Japan could keep some level of integrity too. In S. Korea, they were not as successful but bottom up pressure of popular dissent kept things under control. I am not sure Chinese leadership is sticking to voluntary code of integrity as much as they should or people's bottom-up pressure is effectively checking any corruptions or excess before it is too late.