Why Asia Shouldn't Fear the Fed

In 2008, Asian economies had good reason to race to decouple from the struggling West. The collapse of Lehman Brothers and subsequent contagion sent export-dependent countries in search of a more reliable customer. Not surprisingly, they latched onto China.

That switch now looks like a bad bet. China's economy is sputtering, its stocks are nose-diving and officials in Beijing appear ill-equipped to maintain the world's second-biggest economy as a stable, dependable trading partner. There's an obvious contradiction in developing nations relying so overwhelmingly on another emerging economy, and a highly unbalanced one at that. No doubt many in the region are now wishing they could decouple from China, too.