As a regional and global power, could Tokyo have halted '97 crisis? The meltdown that started in Thailand in 1997 nearly brought the economies of East Asia to their knees. Why did it happen and how might a similar crisis be averted in the future? These and other questions were the focus of the March 10-11 Asian Economic Crisis and Prospects for ASEAN-Japan Relations forum, held in Tokyo and organized by the Keizai Koho Center, involving experts from 10 ASEAN countries and Japan. East Asia is grateful for Japan's assistance after the economic crisis that broke in 1997, but as the region's largest and the world's second-largest economy, Tokyo could have done more, according to experts attending the Asian Economic Crisis and Prospects for ASEAN-Japan Relations forum.
Amado M. Mendoza Jr., of the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies in Manila, said Japan was the single largest source of aid to the crisis-hit countries, offering $79.52 billion between 1997 and 1999, 85 percent of which had been implemented by last July.
"The fact that this assistance was extended by an economy itself in trouble makes it more praiseworthy," Mendoza said, referring to the serious recession Japan itself was experiencing during the same period.