alternatehistory.com

In the late 1940s and 1950s, The Philippines were believed to be the Asian country with the most promising economic prospects. (Burma too, interestingly enough.) The Philippines had close U.S. military and economic ties and a reasonably strong civil society.

OTL, the country has sharply underperformed. It remains fairly poor, with a GDP per capita only slightly higher than India's and less than that of Egypt's. And unlike India or much of SE Asia, it can't point to much recent rapid growth.

So: with a POD of independence, make the Philippines as wealthy as the other Asian Tigers. (I know the title says Japan, but it doesn't need to be exact: basically a developed Pacific nation, on par with Japan, Taiwan, S. Korea, etc.)
Top