TNAG-1880-FCO40-2671-Student-demonstrations-and-internal-political-situation-in-C-1989 — Page 12

The Asian "Newly Industrializing Economies" (Korea, Taiwan,

Hong Kong and Singapore) are probably the most successful

example in recent times of rapidly growing, developing econo- mies which have succeeded in gradually catching up on the more

advanced industrial countries. They exhibit clear-cut diffe- rences in their political and economic systems and compete in-

tensively with each other but yet share a number of common

features. With the exception of Hong Kong which has a diffe-

rent political status, they all attribute to economic perfor-

mance the role of a central pillar for political legitimation. With growing economic autonomy, political demands have mushroomed too. Thus, they are undergoing a difficult process of rapid economic restructuring, and a sometimes painful pro- cess of political transformation at the same time. The NIES

are partly also NDES "newly democratizing economies" shif- ting slowly away from formerly authoritarian regimes in Korea, Taiwan and Singapore towards more democratic ones. To a cer-

tain extent their development can be seen as a success of the Western economic and political system, in particular if compa- red with the development of communist countries of the same

region.