In June 1997, a financial crisis broke out in Asia. The development process of this crisis was very complicated.

By the end of 1998, it can be roughly divided into three stages: June to December 1997; January to July 1998; and July to the end of 1998.

The first stage: On July 2, 1997, Thailand announced that it would abandon the fixed exchange rate system and implement a floating exchange rate system, triggering a financial turmoil throughout Southeast Asia.

On that day, the exchange rate of the Thai baht against the US dollar fell by 17%, and the foreign exchange and other financial markets were in chaos.

Affected by the fluctuation of the Thai baht, the Philippine peso, Indonesian rupiah, and Malaysian ringgit have become the targets of international speculators.

In August, Malaysia gave up efforts to defend the ringgit.

The Singapore dollar, which has always been strong, also took a hit.

Although Indonesia was the last country to be "infected", it has been hit hardest.

In late October, international speculators moved to Hong Kong, the international financial center, targeting Hong Kong's linked exchange rate system.

The Taiwan authorities suddenly abandoned the exchange rate of the New Taiwan dollar, which depreciated by 3.46% in one day, increasing pressure on the Hong Kong dollar and the Hong Kong stock market.

On October 23, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell sharply by 1,211.47 points; on the 28th, it fell by 1,621.80 points, falling below the 9,000 point mark.

Faced with the fierce attack by international financial speculators, the Hong Kong SAR government reiterated that it would not change the current exchange rate system, and the Hang Seng Index rose to reach the 10,000-point mark again.

Then, in mid-November, a financial crisis also broke out in South Korea in East Asia. On the 17th, the exchange rate of the Korean won against the U.S. dollar fell to a record high of 1,008:1. On the 21st, the Korean government had to seek help from the International Monetary Fund and temporarily controlled the crisis.

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But on December 13, the exchange rate of South Korean won against the US dollar dropped to 1,737.60:1.

The Korean won crisis has also impacted the Japanese financial industry, which has large investments in South Korea.

In the second half of 1997, a series of Japanese banks and securities companies went bankrupt.

As a result, the Southeast Asian financial turmoil evolved into the Asian financial crisis.

The second stage: In early 1998, the financial crisis recurred in Indonesia. Facing the worst economic recession in history, the prescriptions prescribed by the International Monetary Fund for Indonesia failed to achieve the expected results.

On February 11, the Indonesian government announced that it would implement a linked exchange rate system in which the Indonesian rupiah maintains a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar to stabilize the Indonesian rupiah.

This move was unanimously opposed by the International Monetary Fund, the United States, and Western Europe.

The International Monetary Fund threatened to withdraw aid to Indonesia.

Indonesia is in a major political and economic crisis.

On February 16, the price of the Indonesian rupiah against the U.S. dollar fell below 10,000:1.

Affected by this, the Southeast Asian foreign exchange market experienced another turbulence, with the Singapore dollar, Malaysian ringgit, Thai baht, Philippine peso, etc. falling one after another.

It was not until Indonesia and the International Monetary Fund reached an agreement on a new economic reform plan on April 8 that the Southeast Asian currency market was temporarily calm.

The Southeast Asian financial crisis that broke out in 1997 put the Japanese economy, which was closely related to it, into trouble.

The Japanese yen exchange rate fell from 115 yen to 1 U.S. dollar at the end of June 1997 to 133 yen to 1 U.S. dollar in early April 1998; in May and June, the yen exchange rate continued to fall, once approaching 150 yen to 1 U.S. dollar.

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With the sharp depreciation of the Japanese yen, the international financial situation has become more uncertain, and the Asian financial crisis continues to deepen.

The third stage: In early August 1998, when the U.S. stock market was in turmoil and the Japanese yen exchange rate continued to fall, international speculators launched a new round of attack on Hong Kong.

The Hang Seng Index has fallen to more than 6,600 points.

The Hong Kong SAR government responded by using the Exchange Fund to enter the stock and futures markets, absorbing the Hong Kong dollars sold by international speculators, and stabilizing the foreign exchange market at HK$7.75 per US dollar.

After nearly a month of hard work, international speculators have suffered heavy losses and are unable to realize their attempt to use Hong Kong as a "super cash machine" again.

While international speculators failed in Hong Kong, they also suffered a disastrous defeat in Russia.

On August 17, the Russian Central Bank announced that it would expand the floating range of the ruble-dollar exchange rate to 6.0-9.5:1 during the year, postpone the repayment of foreign debt, and suspend the trading of government bonds.

On September 2, the ruble devalued by 70%.

This caused the Russian stock market and foreign exchange market to plummet, triggering a financial crisis and even an economic and political crisis.

The sudden change in Russia's policy has devastated international speculators who invested huge sums of money in the Russian stock market, and triggered overall violent fluctuations in the foreign exchange markets of the stock markets of the United States and Europe.

If the Asian financial crisis was still regional before then, the outbreak of the Russian financial crisis shows that the Asian financial crisis has gone beyond the regional scope and has global significance.

By the end of 1998, the Russian economy was still not out of trouble.

In 1999, the financial crisis ended.

There are many reasons for the outbreak of the financial crisis in 1997. Chinese scholars generally believe that it can be divided into direct triggering factors, internal basic factors and world economic factors.

Direct triggering factors include: (1) The impact of hot money in the international financial market.

There are currently approximately US$7 trillion in liquid international capital worldwide.

Once international speculators discover which country or region is profitable, they will immediately impact the currency of that country or region through speculation in order to obtain huge profits in the short term.

(2) Some Asian countries have inappropriate foreign exchange policies.

In order to attract foreign investment, they maintained fixed exchange rates and expanded financial liberalization, providing opportunities for international speculators.