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In the '80s and '90s, China went through a giant change. It needed all resources. At the time, I was in the recycled paper business, and I realized the China market was a blank slate.

We entered the global market only in the end-'80s, and that was because imports became more liberal.

The direct investment of Japanese businesses to East Asian economies accelerates the reallocation of their production bases. Consequently, between Japan and the other East Asian countries, both exports and imports are growing substantially.

When America stopped importing from China, China stopped importing from the rest of the world. This affects Asian countries as well as Australia, Brazil, and other suppliers of raw materials.

Many bought into the idea that America could go from a technology-based, export-oriented powerhouse to a services-led, consumption-based economy - and somehow still expect to prosper. That idea was flat wrong. Our economy tilted instead toward the quicker profits of financial services.

Some countries were able to turn their manufacturing operations into advanced technology areas. South Korea is a great example of this, and manufacturing there is done using advanced technological methods.

After the First World War the economic problem was no longer one of production. It was the problem of finding markets to get the output of industry and agriculture dispersed and consumed.

Our strategy should be based on indigenisation and import substitution. The government must provide opportunities for domestic companies to participate in sectors in which the country continues to depend on imports.

If the two largest economies in the world don't show us a good example on trade liberalization, then you can't expect the smaller and weaker economies to take the risks. The initiative, the momentum and the drive really do have to come from Japan and the U.S.

Importing foreign labor has always been the American way, beginning with 4 million slaves from Africa. Later came the Jews and Poles, the Hungarians, Italians and Irish, the Chinese and Japanese - everything you learned in sixth grade social studies about the great American melting pot.