(FORTUNE Magazine) – THE PACIFIC CENTURY is dawning like thunder out of China. Yes, everyone has been gazing at the horizon in anticipation of the emergence of a new center of economic growth. But its arrival comes with dramatic impact for Western business -- and with a few surprises. Already Asia is the world's biggest consumer of steel and, not counting Japan, the fastest-growing market for autos. Even richer opportunities lie ahead. By the year 2000 the economies of East Asia -- spanning from Japan to Indonesia -- will almost certainly equal that of the U.S. and total about four-fifths of the European Community. More important, China is fitfully awakening, stretching to become both a new export power and a market of 1.17 billion potential consumers. A preview of that future is visible in the Pearl River Delta, where Chinese eagerly buy the brands of beer and television sets advertised on TV shows beamed from nearby Hong Kong. Says Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, one of Asia's most durable and visionary leaders: ''What Hong Kong and Taiwan have done, China will be able to do when she has moved completely into a market economy without subsidized state industries.'' Barely noticed by many Westerners, such new economic powers as Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia are also rising rapidly, on the strength of manufacturing as well as natural resources. Says Bill Barron, a senior fund + manager in Hong Kong for Aetna Investment: ''Southeast Asia's growth has kind of snuck up on the West. The major economies of the region will be coming into their own in the next century.'' In this vibrant region, oddly enough, America has a fairly low profile. Having fought two bitter wars since 1950 to contain communism in Asia, the U.S. has certainly triumphed. Not only China but also Vietnam is moving toward capitalism. Even North Korea is inching in that direction. But the most active participants in Asian business are the Japanese and some 55 million Overseas Chinese scattered among the high-growth Asian countries. What happened to the Americans? Recession cannot be solely to blame, for Japan has slowed too. Says an American economist in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital: ''We're just not aggressive.'' It's tough pioneering such markets as Indonesia and China, which lack a solid legal framework for business and rely more on personal relationships. But by holding back, U.S. companies are almost handing opportunities to more daring Asian rivals -- both Japanese and potent conglomerates in Thailand, Singapore, and South Korea. The strength they gather in Asia will eventually pose a competitive threat to American companies in the U.S. Says Linda Lim, a Southeast Asian specialist at the University of Michigan: ''We must deny the Japanese a profit sanctuary.'' Americans must begin by learning more about Asia, which is far from an exclusive Japanese preserve. Says Singapore economist Lee Tsao Yuan: ''People talk of Japan as the economic leader of Asia, but the Overseas Chinese are also a driving force.'' They are a lot more venturesome these days than the Japanese, who are hurt by troubles in both their securities and property markets. Leading Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs can be invaluable middlemen because they operate through a network of personal contacts that extends into China. Procter & Gamble, for instance, got into the Chinese shampoo market by striking an alliance with Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing. Fully understanding the active economic role of Asian governments will also help U.S. business. Most Asian nations practice a brand of capitalism that combines industrial policy with freewheeling competition. In Singapore, a paragon of free enterprise, the government runs many industrial companies, including Singapore Technologies Group, which had $1.3 billion in sales last year and has joint ventures with such companies as Xerox and Pratt & Whitney. And in Indonesia, where several children of President Suharto run conglomerates, one of them is the local partner of AT&T. Clearly, knowing the players in each country helps in penetrating the market.

The most important thing that Westerners can learn from Asians is how to motivate workers. The region's success is often explained in terms of cultural forces, including close family ties, a strong belief in the value of education, a penchant to save for the future. Those Confucian values are much the same as what Americans once called the Puritan Ethic. There's nothing exotic about the strength of Asians: They just work hard at everything. So can Westerners.