Rising labor costs and the reindustrialization ambitions of developed economies have made Asia sense a threat, but the region may prove more resilient as a manufacturing hub if it can identify a new competitive edge, said industrial giants attending this year's Boao Forum.

As both the United States and the debt-ridden eurozone take measures to win back manufacturing jobs lost to Asian countries decades ago, concerns have grown over the possibilities of investment outflow in Asia.

Under the present circumstances, the old growth pattern of Asia's manufacturing sector may no longer be secure, Lee Yoon-woo, executive advisor of Samsung Electronics, said at a roundtable discussion during the forum, held in southern China's Hainan Province.

Struggling with weakening external demand, Asian manufacturers face even graver challenges at home, which include surging labor costs, energy and environmental constraints, and overcapacity.

But the prospects are not completely bleak, said participants at the roundtable discussion, citing a limited impact of the western reindustrialization strategy and new growth strengths in Asian manufacturing.

REINDUSTRILIZATION IMPACT

When the international financial crisis hit in 2008, developed countries started to reflect upon the drawbacks of excessive development of the virtual economy, and began to usher in a slew of measures and reforms to boost the real economy.

The revitalization effort is unlikely to change the specifics of the global manufacturing industry, because it's hard for developed economies at the higher end of the industrial chain to resume production downwards, said Lin Zuoming, president of Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

Moving back to low-end production will prevent consumers in developed economies from enjoying high-quality and low-cost products, and more dangerously, risk losing the competitive edge of products made in these economies, Lin warned.

"In fact, the western manufacturing industry has traditional competitive advantages that are closely linked to their own culture, which are difficult for Asian countries to clone," he said.

A Ferrari wouldn't be a Ferrari anymore in the traditional sense, if the world's top car brand were not designed and manufactured in Italy, he said, suggesting valuing regional advantages as a way to revive manufacturing.

Luo Jun, chief executive officer of the Asian Manufacturing Association said in an interview with Xinhua that even though labor costs rose significantly in Asian countries over past few years, they remain around one-tenth of the average level in the U.S. and the EU.

Therefore, developed economies will continue to compete in global high-end manufacturing to secure their leading position in advanced technologies and high-end equipment production, he said.