The labor cost rises in Asian countries where per capita income increases rapidly, and this means that Asia may not continue to be the best place for manufacturing. In fact, some firms have already moved their production bases to other countries in order to reduce production costs.
Taking this opportunity of reorganizing GVCs, Asian countries should make an effort to create new comparative advantages by expanding investments and increasing production efficiency. The major premise of this effort is to keep the free trade system, which has supported the growth of the world economy to date.