CONFIDENTIAL
of places like Hong Kong, Bangkok and Seoul (and, of course, Japan which stands outside this report) Asian cities are still in the bus, bike and 3-wheeled-taxi stage of development. Private cars are relatively rare and are symbols of the upper middle or wealthy classes although landrovers are widely used eg in Burma, Indonesia. Most important of all, my impressions of abounding prosperity would undoubtedly have been modified if I had had time to explore the great areas of slum and shanty town spawned by most modern Asian cities. In the time available I had to take them as read.
6. Certainly the prosperity is there but how widespread or deep- rooted I was never quite sure. Much of the money for new building is foreign (American of Japanese) and arguably will affect only tourism and big business. There were those (like the opposition politicians in Dacca) who deplored the concentration of resources and energy in the capital to the detriment of the countryside. Others complained of the increased corruption in city life. When in conversation with a journalist from the Pakistan newspaper "Dawn I referred approvingly to the growth of a middle class which the new building in Karachi seemed to indicate, he averred with some
bitterness that on the contrary the middle class was being squeezed out of existence; it was the wealthy classes and the urban poor who were increasing (though I suspected some difference in our interpretations of the terms "wealthy" and "middle class").
7.
From the more positive view, that investment begets investment, it is impossible not to be stirred by the great development of the majority of Asia's capital cities. In any case one is faced with the conviction that the changes, with all their mixture of consequences, are irreversible. By the looks of it, Asia will, barring accidents, have quite a few candidates for the category of
"giant metropolis" as forecast by the demographers for the 21st
century.
8. One other facet of the economic situation deserves mention.
Nobody I spoke to referred to the recession of their own volition. When I asked about it, people invariably said that there had been
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