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This paper aims to show that the crisis reveals the importance of the debate over the decoupling of Asian and Western economies. Reacting to the 1997 crisis, East Asia set up a process of regional integration based on financial cooperation. However, the crisis that began in the United States in 2007 reached Asia at the end of 2008. This contagion sheds light on the absence of decoupling between the Asian and the Western situations, particularly in the real sector. In order to quickly catch up with Western economies, Asia now needs to refocus on regional demand, thus emancipating itself from triangular trade. National recovery plans could initiate this mechanism.