Nonetheless, the report is certain to provide grist in the debate about the effects of globalization. As world leaders meet at the United Nations this week to discuss globalization, economists and financial authorities in Southeast Asia are contemplating how the increasingly borderless world of commerce and information is somehow marginalizing once-envied tiger economies. Despite an uneven recovery from the financial crisis that began in 1997, most Southeast Asian economies, while still growing, have slipped behind in opening markets and competing globally. On the surface, Southeast Asia's vital signs look good. Economic growth is slowing but is on track toward a 7 percent gain this year, according to J. P. Morgan.
Exports remain strong, with the region a major source of computer and telecommunications hardware.
But the report from Asean which groups together Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam points up several worrisome trends. First is a dwindling share of exports to the United States, the world's largest economy. Though Southeast Asian exports have steadily risen, United States imports from China and from Mexico are rising more quickly. In the meantime, foreign investment in Asean nations has been shifting to other developing countries, according to the report. Under the old model, foreign and especially Japanese investment played a crucial role along with huge public bank deposits in helping governments build export industries.