Southeast Asia is a region of the world that includes some of the oldest cultures and busiest manufacturers on earth. Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Malaysia, Bali, Cambodia, the Philippines and Burma are all contained inside this region. Taiwan, where much of the inexpensive technology sold in the United States is manufactured, is located just across the South China Sea from Hong Kong and on the other side of the Bashi Channel from the Philippines. The triumvirate of these three countries sends more international shipping vessels to the United States than any other region in the world.



International shipping from Southeast Asia to the United States keeps the seaports of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland busy year round. Customs officials and clearing houses are set up along the West Coast to examine all shipments arriving from the Far East. Once through customs, lines of eighteen wheeled trucks are waiting to continue the international shipping journey and haul thousands of radios, televisions, stereos and computers to warehouses where they will be separated and shipped to retail stores across the country for sale to the American public.

International shipping from Southeast Asia into the United States has been targeted by many traditionalists in America as the reason why unemployment is so high and the economy in the country is so low. Some even claim that buying any product that doesn't say Made in America is helping to bring about the country's downfall. This is far too simple a view of an economic problem that was inevitable when world trade markets opened up after World War II. Labor costs are lower in other parts of the world and products can be manufactured for less. Sensible consumers look for the best value. If that is a foreign made product that arrived here via international shipping from Hong Kong or Taiwan then that product will sell better than a domestic product of the same caliber with a higher price tag.

Another factor that many Americans don't consider is that many items made in Southeast Asia are being manufactured for American corporations. The increase in outsourcing to countries with lower labor costs has increased the numbers for international shipping into the United States. The product may be coming from overseas but the profit is being made by American businesses. This practice may eliminate general labor, assembly and machine operator jobs, but it creates administrative, virtual assistant, and international shipping positions that typically pay better and have a lower risk factor for the health of employees.

One other point to note is that economic dependence on each other is the greatest tool we have for world peace. Every war that has ever been fought has had a financial motive behind it. Germany and Japan both entered World War II because their economies were stagnating and their trade relations with other nations had come to a halt. When two countries have a thriving trade relation, the likelihood of them becoming enemies is very small, regardless of political philosophy.