If these long-term assumptions mean anything at all, there is good reason to think that, in the short term, the depression could well foster an economic nationalism and a popular resentment against the West that are far removed from the utopian projections announcing the triumph of liberalism. Alan Greenspan, op. cit. Karl Polanyi, La Grande Transformation , Gallimard, Paris, 1983. These estimates date back to early June 1998. Moreover, flows of direct investments have declined substantially.
Japan is East Asia's main creditor and trading partner.