ASEAN, remained almost unchanged. Japan was still a net exporter.

ASEAN as a whole was still a net importer, though Thailand entered the 'export' stage as shown in figure 8. ASEAN's exports to each country and country group did not increase during the 1980s except for the US. This is explained by the difficulty in mastering the technology of synthetic fabrics production. As for staple fabrics production, which is close to cotton in terms of material, it is easy for developing countries to catch up the exporting countries. However, it is difficult to master the production of filamentary fabrics.

The trade relationship in synthetic fabrics between China and the Asian NIEs, which is not available in table 6, is very extensive. In the trade between China and the Asian NIEs, the proportion of indirect trade via Hong Kong was very large, because of rupture of the diplomatic relations between China and both Taiwan and South Korea. There were two reasons why Hong Kong was selected as a junction port. First, the transportation cost could be saved. Hong Kong was located in the center of the Asian region, and closest to China. It had a sufficient infrastructure to be the center of finance, commerce and industry in Asia. It also had a computerized electoral communication network. Furthermore, its harbor facilities and shopping service were of low cost and modern. The large-scale facilities, and repairing systems were also available.

The second point was the low cost of its business management. There were little language difficulties in trade, as the people in Hong Kong understand both English and Chinese. There were specialists in business correspondence and trade law. Besides, the support system promoted reexport in terms of market research, sales promotion, finance, insurance and law.

The trade between China and both South Korea and Taiwan has been increasing particularly since 1986, and is shown in tables 16 and 17. These tables show the trade between China and South Korea and Taiwan, respectively. The proportion of synthetic fabrics in this trade is very large. It is noticeable that the share of synthetic fabrics in Chinese imports from South Korea and Taiwan declined gradually, and in Chinese exports toward them, its share steadily increased. At the early stage of textile industrialization, Chinese exports mostly consisted of fibers (SITC 2). After that, China mastered the technology of synthetic fabric production through imports of them from the Asian NIEs.

The Asian NIEs’s export increased markedly in contrast to cotton fabrics, whose export was reduced because of MFA. This is explained by the decline of US competitiveness and the unaccomplishment of import substitution in ASEAN. To deal with the catching up effect of developing countries, each industrialized country adopted the industrial adjustment policy in the textile industry. The competitive position of synthetic fabrics in the US was sustained by the introduction of labor-saving technologies which made possible the low cost production despite of its relative high wage. This adjustment policy was different from those of EC and Japan, which aimed at the diversification of high-quality and expensive products. Thus, the quality of products made in the US was more close to those in the Asian NIEs and ASEAN. However, the competitiveness of synthetic fabrics in the US steadily declined as shown in table 6. On the other hand, ASEAN, which had the advantage of low cost, did not have enough production capacity to meet its domestic demand. Therefore, it was possible for the Asian NIEs to extend their export shares in the US market. However, export from the Asian NIEs