China appears to be open to expanding its "free" economic zones on the mainland. China's Industrial Revolution has occurred exponentially to that of Britain and the United States. Consequently, its workforce has suffered the acute pains of consecutive work shifts as China scrambles to meet the demands of its worldwide customers. In other words, its economic policies have relaxed to some extent, while Hu Jin Tao still keeps a tight grip on its one party government.
Japan, though not as economically prominent as China, wrestles with: a declining population, extreme nationalism which seeks to marginalize ethnic Japanese from Peru or Brazil, and a slight loss of economic prominence due to the radiation fallout from its Fukishima nuclear power plant. Its government debt is 220% of GDP (2011 $8.8 trillion up from $5.6 trillion in 2002), while in the US it is 90% of GDP.
South Korea still depends on Russia for its oil pipeline and fears are that North Korea will stop or hinder the flow of production into South Korea. Although North Korea is far behind South Korea in terms of: education, per capita GDP, standard of living, Internet usage and availability, North Korea still manages to play South Korea against RUSSIA.
The year of 2012 will be decisive in revealing the direction that each of the following countries will take.
The United States, South Korea, the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan will have elections which will decide if incumbents will prevail, or if new leaders will emerge with new, practical visions and leadership.
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