At the East Asia regional summit of the World Economic Forum held in Hong Kong in October of 2001, developments in the Chinese economy dominated the discussions. Although the emergence of China was seen as positive for the region, it was also viewed with some trepidation in some of the countries, particularly Hong Kong.
It is an irony that the most closed economies in Asia i.e. China and Japan, determine the future prospects of some of the most open economies in the world. Growth projections for Asia were also revised down by the IMF, with recovery delayed into 2002.