While much of the rise in the share of Asia is due to China, even when it is excluded, the rest of Asia’s share still rises from 7.8 per cent to 12.2 per cent over the two decades. In the above comparison, I chose a 20-year period because it gives a good idea of how longer-term trends have developed.
If we instead chose the past five years for the comparison, we would be choosing Asia’s worst period, that is the one that contains the Asian crisis. As a result, we might expect to find a different conclusion.