If China’s entry to the World Trade Organization in 2001 helped accelerate Asia out of its 1997 financial crisis, the regional giant’s slowing economic growth is now putting the brakes on recovery from global recession.

The Asian crisis began in Thailand when its currency collapsed from an overburden of foreign debt and the bust that followed a property boom.

Economic malaise spread quickly to Indonesia, where President Suharto was eventually deposed, and South Korea, where several chaebol business conglomerates were broken up.