1997 was the worst year for Southeast Asian countries. For most of this year,

the eyes of the whole world have turned to them in a corner of the world, although this concern is a bit miserable.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir said: The economic system that we spent 4 years building was suddenly destroyed by this idiot with a lot of money.

This idiot with a lot of money is george soros, and international speculators led by his Quantum Fund started to attack the Thai baht in May. And overthrew this domino.

The exchange rates of Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian dollar and Philippine peso fell sharply against the US dollar; Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan

Bay and other three little dragons in Asia are also doomed.

Hong Kong, which has just returned to China, has also experienced an unprecedented impact.

new york Dow Jones index and large stock markets in London and Tokyo are also inevitably involved in this quagmire.

The unprecedented financial crisis has shocked the whole world with its intensity and scope!

here, we specially launch this series for readers. -editor

Soros bloodbath Southeast Asia

Xiao Liu works in a foreign company, and often travels between Thailand and China because of his business relationship, but one week in July, on the morning of Wednesday, he found that he really made a fortune-the Thai baht exchanged for one dollar suddenly increased. He thought it was the bank lady who made a mistake. In fact, the international purchasing power of Thais dropped sharply by < P > 16.7% on this day, and an unprecedented financial storm is coming to Southeast Asia.

in January, 1997, international speculators headed by george soros began to attack the coveted southeast Asian financial market, selling Thai baht and buying US dollars. The Thai baht plummeted. Its purpose is clear:

to disrupt the financial market in Southeast Asia, in order to fish in troubled waters and make a fortune. The chaos and out-of-control management of real estate, foreign exchange < P > reserves and financial markets in some Southeast Asian countries provide speculators with a golden opportunity. It is Soros's wishful thinking to start with Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, which are the most vulnerable countries, and then disrupt the "four little dragons" in Asia, such as Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan Province, China, and finally capture Hong Kong, in an attempt to impress them with invulnerability, crush market confidence and trigger the mentality of "herding sheep". Soros believes that as long as the financial market of one

country is destroyed, other countries will inevitably fall one after another, which is the so-called "domino effect".

Thailand has become the first target.

In May, international currency speculators began to sell Thai baht on a large scale, and the exchange rate against the US dollar fell sharply. Faced with the aggressive attack of speculators, the Bank of Thailand and the Bank of Singapore joined hands to enter the market, taking a three-pronged approach in an attempt to defend the Thai baht array, and they spent $12 billion to absorb Thai baht. Prohibit local banks from lending Thai baht to offshore speculators; The interest rate was greatly raised, and after some close combat, the position of Thai baht was temporarily preserved.

In this regard, international currency speculators have made a strong counterattack, and they have only one trick: raising funds

and throwing Thai baht. Soros began to advance. At the same time, the devaluation of the Thai baht has been wave after wave, and the exchange rate of Thai baht against the US dollar has hit record lows. When the Thai government changed hands at the last minute, Amnuay Virawan, the former finance minister, was forced to hand over < P > the handsome seal. The Thai government's move was like dropping a bombshell on a rough lake, and the Philippines became a victim. The peso exchange rate began to rise and fall sharply.

Amnuay Virawan's sudden death failed to stop the Thai baht from losing. In June, speculators began to

sell US Treasury bonds to raise funds, and once again launched a fatal blow to the Thai baht. The Bank of Thailand fought back. At that time, people were

worried, and everyone was in danger, and all kinds of disadvantages were exposed under the cover of peace and prosperity. In order to stabilize the military, Thai Prime Minister Chaeli delivered a televised speech on June 3th: "I reiterate that the Thai baht will not depreciate, and we will

let those speculators lose their blood." Swear to swear, but its financial market is like a bucket that can't help. At this

time, the Bank of Thailand had run out of ammunition and food, and the only foreign exchange reserves of $3 billion had already been spent. Just two days after Prime Minister

' s speech, the Bank of Thailand was forced to announce a floating exchange rate system and abandon the 13-year-old exchange rate system of pegging the Thai baht to the US dollar. On that day, the Thai baht plunged by 2%. On July 29th, the governor of the Bank of Thailand, Luncha Ma

Raja, announced his resignation. On August 5th, the Bank of Thailand decided to close 42 financial institutions. At this point, the Thai baht finally fell

. At the same time, the weakness of the Philippine peso made it another target of speculators. The Philippine Central Bank

tried to raise interest rates four times in a week and announced the expansion. But the tide is gone, and there is no way to return to heaven. On July 11th, the central bank of the Philippines announced that it would allow the Philippine peso to fluctuate within a wider range

. At that time, the devaluation of the peso was terrible. In fact, it marked the total loss of the peso defense

. Like a drug addict, Soros was obviously not satisfied at this time. They went out everywhere to find the next target to catch

, and Malaysia and Indonesia entered his sight.

Malaysia's central bank tried to raise the cost of shorting the Malaysian ringgit to stop speculators from making waves.

Indonesia also entered the market to support the Indonesian rupiah. However, the strong attack of speculators could not be stopped, and the exchange rate of Malaysian currency and Indonesian currency against the < P > dollar was low and then low.

The loss of the positions of neighboring countries began to spread to the Singapore currency, which has always been known as the "refuge currency". Although Singapore has taken measures such as raising interest rates, the exchange rate of Singapore dollar against the US dollar has continued to fall.

under Soros's tough stance, governments all over the world are overwhelmed, and they have given up their defense actions one after another, giving in only after

opening, and acting like they are willing to fight back. On the other hand, international currency speculators are even more fearless, and they are rampant in Southeast Asian financial markets for a while.

Southeast Asia's currency sniper war has made everyone feel insecure, and the financial authorities of various countries have tried their best to avoid falling into this mud pool. Even the United States, which has been on the sidelines in this agitation, has begun to express its position. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board, said that he is particularly "uneasy" that the crisis involves

another country to a great extent, and the United States is willing to help.

The aggressive arrogance of international speculators has made the international community more aware of the collective response to the currency crisis. On July 25th, senior representatives of central banks and financial administrations from 11 countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific region, such as China, Australia, Japan, China, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and New Zealand, met in Shanghai. After the meeting, a statement issued said that a stable money market is very important, and all countries in the Asia-Pacific region will study with the International Monetary Fund. The measures to provide new aid to the countries concerned help the member countries to make economic adjustments when necessary. This news at least makes Southeast Asian countries feel that they are no longer so lonely when they are fighting against international currency speculators.

On August 5th, crisis-ridden Thailand agreed to accept the standby

loan plan and package measures with harsh conditions from the International Monetary Fund. On August 11th, in order to save Thailand from capital shortage, the central bank governors of more than a dozen countries and regions in the world held a meeting in Tokyo, Japan. The IMF and some Asian countries and regions promised to share a total financing plan of * * * 16 billion US dollars (later increased to 16.7 billion US dollars) for Thailand, among which China and Hong Kong, China each promised to On August 21st, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced that it would grant Thailand a temporary loan worth $3.3 billion to help it tide over the difficulties.

Just as Southeast Asian countries were seeking help everywhere and actively planning, international speculators disappeared and suddenly stopped attacking

. On August 2th, the exchange rates of currencies in Southeast Asian countries temporarily stabilized, and people in Southeast Asian countries gasped greatly. < P > Well, the storm has finally passed!

Just like the tranquility on the eve of the storm, there is a murder under the calm surface. It is obviously too early for neighboring countries to be happy. A new round of "storm" is just waiting for a suitable opportunity. Unfortunately, this tranquility only lasted for a few days. The neighboring countries in the east haven't had time to wipe their blood. At the end of August, another

stunning decline came in an instant. This time, Brunei, an ASEAN member, was also dragged into the water.

At this point, Soros assumed a posture of being in power and tide wait for no man. He was brave enough to pursue the poor bandits and concentrated his fire on sweeping Southeast Asia again

. In September, this storm has been raging for the third month, and the decline of the foreign exchange market continues.

The economic situation of countries in East and South Asia continues to deteriorate. On October 19th, Thailand's Finance Minister Tanon Bidaya also left office full of sadness.

It was not until early November that the black storm, which had been a nightmare for Southeast Asia for more than four months, gradually calmed down

. According to industry analysts, this turmoil has come to an end. However, for Southeast Asia, especially Thailand < P >, which is in the earthquake source, it is ok to play the crown, but it is hard to celebrate each other.

There's nothing to do.

In this crisis, I'm afraid Thailand is the worst victim. The violent financial storm hit the country to the bottom. Before that, Thailand was dazzled by its image as one of the "Four Little Dragons" in Asia. A small business owner recalled, "It seemed that we were so rich that everyone set out to buy a Mercedes-Benz." They

are keen on Yu Haibin Villa, Swiss Omega, French XO, German Benz and Japanese Panasonic. Like Americans,

they also smartly arrange trips to Europe every year; Children are sent to private schools ... When you meet a

country housewife or even a street vendor outside Bangkok, you may be a member of the stock army; "money is too easy

", at that time, they would say in such a teasing tone that they were preparing to travel to Europe. But now, Thai

people are stunned to see that Soros and others have robbed them of everything that originally belonged to them; The family car was towed away by the

police, unemployment began to bother me, the romantic trip to Europe had to be cancelled, and the children had to transfer to cheap

public schools ... Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir said: "This guy (referring to Soros) came to our country

, and overnight, the struggle of our people for more than ten years was wiped out."

Chawang, president of a bank in Thailand, said, "We can only watch helplessly as Soros, a gangster, deprives us of the wealth we once had. We just want to say, don't you just want money?"

For all Southeast Asians, a large fortune they once owned vanished in an instant. Chanu Vast, president of Samat Telecom

Company, said: Bangkok people haven't even had time to enjoy the splendor, the car just got off the production line, and the newly painted house hasn't dried yet. But they have lost everything. Indonesian musician Bonnile Gumah struggled for 3 years to buy a < P > dream garden. When he was about to move in, a storm came. "I had to return it." He

said.

an era of worrying about eating, an era of frugality is inevitable, but the feeling of going through the sea once made them still immersed in rich aftertaste. In the square in the center of Bangkok, a vendor shouted at the top of his voice

to rent clothes. "You can rent anything. Students in private universities rent it almost

from head to toe to keep decent." The vendor said that his business was booming. On Sundays, the shopping malls were still crowded. The only difference < P > was that he was ashamed of his money and had to wander around. Just like many old people walking birds in Beijing.

Those rich people can only watch 5% or more of their wealth disappear without a trace

. It is estimated that from March to September, the top 12 richest people in Malaysia lost

13 billion dollars in the stock market alone, and the children of Indonesian President Suharto were forced to sell their companies, so as to avoid the appearance of

no income. "The world of the past no longer exists." Ramsam, president of Agricultural Bank of Thailand, the third largest bank, said

.

The strange scenery in Bangkok is still so beautiful and moving, and the high-rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur are still so row upon row; But

the gap between once rich and now poor is so far away. "It's not just a sense of loss < P >", a professor at Thai First University sighed helplessly.

Face the reality, perhaps this is the most painful and helpless choice for our east neighbors!

Three months later, the financial storm that swept across Southeast Asia landed on Hong Kong Island-the wolf finally came.

Black Monday

Perhaps, in the memory of many Hong Kong people, the "stock market crash" in Hong Kong in October 1987 was

like a nightmare, and it still has lingering fears.

In the golden autumn of October p>1997, another "big bear market" swept the whole Hong Kong stock market. October 2

is the 1th anniversary of the tragedy "Black Monday" on Wall Street in the United States. Because of this, it became the most anxious day for investors. However, the atmosphere of terror did not appear on Wall Street. On the contrary, the Dow Jones index rebounded by 74 points after falling by 21 points in a week.

While investment analysts are celebrating, on the other side of the globe, there is already a crisis and an undercurrent

. Ten years later, another "Black Monday" began to come, only this time it enveloped Hong Kong, which is known as the shopping paradise.

On October 2th, the Hong Kong stock market began to fall. On October 21st, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell by 765 < P > .33 points, and on October 22nd, it continued this trend, falling by 1,2 points. On 23rd, worries about the prospect of the Hong Kong dollar < P > caused the interbank offered rate in Hong Kong to rise continuously. On 21st, the overnight interest rate, which was only about 7%, suddenly rose < P > by 3 times. In this market atmosphere, Hong Kong stocks suffered a setback for the fourth time in a row, falling by 1.41%.

Donald Tsang, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said on the same day that Hong Kong's basic economic factors are good, and the stock market decline was mainly affected by temporary speculation from external factors, so investors need not panic. He said: "I don't think this is a stock market crash." He thinks

that, in any case, the SAR Government should first defend the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar. Although there was

speculation on the Hong Kong dollar the night before, the speculation has been quelled. At the same time, Joseph Yam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Monetary Authority, also made a speech, claiming that the HKMA had repelled speculators the night before.

Perhaps because of the strong intervention measures of the SAR government, perhaps because the confidence of the SAR government and financial managers

has infected investors. On the 24th, after falling sharply for four consecutive trading days,