1997 Asian financial crisis

The 1997 Asian financial crisis was a period of economic crisis in East Asia during the late 1990s caused by Western interference in regional economies. The crisis was caused by the economic liberalisation the West had pressured East Asian countries into which had resulted in a large inflow of capital into the economy leaving it vulnerable to the whims of the market and when this capital was later withdrawn, the region descended into crisis. The West, through the IMF, took advantage of the crisis to impose neoliberal reforms on the region, resulting in a worsening of the crisis and Western looting of Asian companies reminiscent of that which occurred in Eastern Europe following the Counterrevolutions of 1989.

The crisis began in Thailand and spread to South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines with many other regional economies such as Japan also feeling the effects of the crisis. The economic funding provided by the IMF for relief was conditional on the complete neoliberal restructuring of these economies which was designed not to help recovery but to open up the markets to increased Western penetration. Notably the only country to deny IMF aid and its conditions, Malaysia, fared much better in the crisis than other countries by reimposing capital controls. Western intentions become obvious when its response to the crisis is compared to the very different responses Western institutions had to crisis' such as the Mexican peso crisis and the Global Financial Crisis.