The East Asia crisis of 1997 had many causes, including a strong dollar, fixed exchange rates and poorly regulated financial systems. One additional factor was the rise of China, which had begun competing with other East Asian exporters. At the time, China was still fairly low tech, and hence the 1997 crisis hit the lower income countries of Southeast Asia much harder than places like Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. Those higher income places had a more complementary relationship to China, supplying needed capital goods.