Yes and no Frag globalisation has lifted Asia and they will be more important in the medium term future and possibly the top dog in the longer term but this problem of hollowing production is symptomstic of the whole bloody asset bubble that just popped. Banks forgot to be boring and thought they were some kind of hedge fund they ended up ruining there own business model because they followed the profit motive above the business motive the same is happening to manufacturing companies. Shifting production to the east is fine but shifting it all is silly in the long term for your company overly concentrating in one region is a recipe for strategic disaster on the part of any company.