Whether the world's economy will regain its vitality rests to a large extent with the advance of the economy of Asia, especially whether those newly emerging Asian economies can, through new technological revolutions, find a new path that is completely different from the one traveled by its traditional manufacturing industry.

In recent years, the Asian economy has apparently promoted the global economy, and its impact can be clearly felt. The driving force mainly comes from the manufacturing industry, which has become the backbone of Asian development. While the industry in those emerging Asian economies plays a crucial role at the middle and lower ends of the global supply chain, it also faces numerous challenges.

The manufacturing industry of Asia's emerging economies has several distinctive features.

Most factories have been set up by attracting funds from foreign countries, especially from developed countries. Quite a number of production lines have been transferred from developed countries. The manufacturing industry in emerging Asian economies largely has low added value, and is energy-consuming and labor-intensive.

This shows that Asia's manufacturing industry has undertaken the production of certain goods that developed economies cannot.

Such production has been shifted to Asia because it has to consume large amounts of energy and raw materials and thus do damage to the environment. This means that many manufacturers from emerging Asian economies are still at the low end of the global supply chain.

Amid their rapid development, newly emerging Asian economies have already felt the negative impact brought by high consumption of energy and environmental pollution. In recent years, the pollution issue in some Asian economies has been prominent and there is an ever-increasing demand for energy, which has triggered a number of social problems.

The future development of Asia cannot do without the manufacturing industry. For a long period, Asia will still need the industry to raise its overall economic level. Nonetheless, the industry's development at the cost of the environment and energy is no longer sustainable.

The sustainable development of Asia will depend on the sustainable development of the manufacturing industry. The key to taking the next step is whether Asian economies can innovate technologies to develop new energy-saving and environmentally friendly methods and apply them in the manufacturing industry.

It's difficult to follow the traditional route of the manufacturing industry in developed economies. However, it will be much harder if emerging Asian economies seek to initiate a green path for the growth of their manufacturing industry.

The sustainable development of the manufacturing industry has great political significance for Asia's new emerging economies. It will determine whether millions of Asians can get rid of poverty and whether these economies can avoid the middle income trap.

A green Asian manufacturing industry will help change the mode of economic growth and balance the global economy. Without sustainable development in the Asian manufacturing industry, the world's new technological revolution will not be complete.

A new technological revolution is ready to be launched. Newly emerging Asian economies will not simply become the successor to their developed counterparts. Europeans led the world into the industrial era with steam engines; Americans created the Internet era with computers; Asians, with their green technology, will bring the world into a new era of the manufacturing industry.

The author is a senior editor with the People's Daily. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn