The solution to Asia's problems lies with Japan, according to leading economic experts here in Davos, Switzerland. The one thing they appeared to be divided on was whether the Asian crisis was the biggest threat to the international economy since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, or since the Great Depression in 1929.
But one message was clear: there's a new Murphy's Law for currencies. According to one German professor: "If it's not sustainable, it's vulnerable." That should be remembered going into the euro, Mr Horst Siebert, president of the Kiel Institute of World Economics in Germany, said, drawing a parallel between events in Asia and the advent of the single currency.
The opening of the World Economic Forum focused on Japan's role in dealing with the Asian crisis. According to Mr Fred Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics in the US, Japan should be reducing its trade surplus rather than increasing it.
"Instead of proposing new funds that would make $100 billion (£71.5 billion) of capital available for the rest of Asia, it should be importing an additional $100 billion of products from the region," he told one of the forum's opening seminars.
However, he and many others believe that a turnaround on this scale from the Japanese authorities is unlikely. Mr Haruo Shimada, professor of economics at Keio University in Japan, made an impassioned speech, asking Mr Eisuke Sakakibara, the vice-minister of finance in Japan known as "Mr Yen", to announce a change of heart when he speaks here today. Policy up to now has been a horrendous mistake, he added.
The other points of the Asia triangle are of course China and the US. Almost all speakers spoke of the dangers of US protectionism, which is likely to increase in the face of rising imports from Asian competitors benefiting from the recent currency collapses in the region. The now wholly export-driven Asian economies are likely to direct most of their products to the US, where trade deficit could widen considerably.
A large number of calls has gone out to the US administration to push additional funding for the IMF through Congress and to persuade them to accept "fast track" negotiating authority, where the administration can negotiate trade deals, only reverting to Congress for final approval. If this were not to happen, according to Mr Bergsten, the global economic prognosis could be far worse than it is now.
For China the key question would appear to be holding its currency peg against the US dollar. However, Mr Bersgten said he is confident that the Chinese vice-premier, Mr Li Lanqing, would outline his country's commitment to the dollar tie when he speaks here today.
Mr Ken Courtis, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Asia, said the Chinese would also need to cut interest rates by 2, or even 3, percentage points to boost demand. This will help when the Chinese economy slows down with exports falling and foreign investment drying up.
Mr Courtis also warned that the steps currently being undertaken in Korea could open up a period of euphoria and that markets might move to new highs. "That would be a calamity and would be the calm before the next storm," he said.
Companies, and indeed countries, will have to become more competitive as the heat turns up and the East Asian countries take advantage of their competitive devaluations. Brazil and Argentina will be first to feel the heat, he predicted, but few countries would be unscathed as we enter the most competitive global environment ever.
Even Mr Domingo Felipe Cavallo, former Argentine foreign relations minister and president of the Fundacion Mediterranea, Argentina, warned that the Asian crisis could spread to Latin America, if not checked.
