China and Southeast Asia's Ethnic Chinese: State and Diaspora in Contemporary Asia

Bolt, Paul J. China and Southeast Asia's Ethnic Chinese: State and Diaspora in Contemporary Asia. New York: Praeger, 2000, 184 pp.

This book examines the ".. .triangular relationship among China, the states of Southeast Asia, and Southeast Asia's ethnic Chinese. Each point of the triangle has both shared and competing interests with the other points, and influence flows both ways along all three legs of the triangle" (p. 6). In particular, Bolt seeks to examine the role in which overseas Chinese communities of Southeast Asia have played a role in China's remarkable growth. The economic growth of post-Mao China is rapidly becoming one of the central themes in contemporary Asian studies, and this volume makes a useful addition to that literature. There is little doubt that Hong Kong Chinese have played an enormous - indeed, pivotal - role in the rise of a dynamic market-based economy in southern China. The role of ethnic Chinese from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, however, in the enormous inward investment in China has been less studied for a number of reasons. First, Hong Kong investment in China is far larger in total volume, a point which the author recognizes but which in no way diminishes the importance of other sources of foreign investment in China, particularly outside of Guangdong province. second, the issue is a fairly sensitive one, especially in those Southeast Asian governments which have had problematic relations with their ethnic Chinese residents in the past. Even now these governments are somewhat suspicious that investments from their ethnic Chinese communities into mainland China are investments which are not flowing to their own domestic economies.

This book seeks to understand the role of Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese are playing in the economic and political development of contemporary mainland China. The author does show a broad mastery of the secondary literature in the field, as well as substantial use of Chinese language sources. The author also conducted a limited number of interviews in the field. Although there is a small amount of historical background material in the book, its primary focus is on the 1980s and 1990s.

A key aspect of the study - monetary flows between kin - is inherently problematic to study because of the closely-held nature of the corporations involved and the desire of many Southeast Asian Chinese to avoid publicity. Bolt concedes the point and is forced to rely upon other authors' estimates of just how much investment and remittance money is flowing from the Chinese of Southeast Asia to the mainland. The numbers, however, are not huge. Discounting Singaporean investments, which Bolt treats as a separate category (and indeed, devotes a whole chapter to), the numbers of total Southeast Asian Foreign Direct Investment (FDl) into China in the 1990-1998 period studied is not even US$1 billion in 1996 (page 66); out of over $38 billion invested into China that year, about 2%. Thus, Southeast Asian FDI into China has more political than economic impact. It is these political implications that constitute chapters 5 and 6 of the book, both in the domestic Chinese context and the international context, respectively. In the latter, Bolt points toward the gradual improvement of relations between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors, a trend which recent meetings between China and ASEAN have demonstrated to continue.

One aspect of this study, and indeed, any study written during this period, is that the 1997 financial crisis in East Asia had an enormous impact on economies, currencies, and investment flows, yet at the time when the research was done, it was difficult to assess what the long-term effects of the crisis would be. The author is forced to acknowledge that this is difficult to assess, and from the perspective of 2004, it is now clear that the legacy is now highly differentiated. China and Vietnam were the only countries of the region to maintain economic growth in 1998, with Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia showing the sharpest hits. All economies recovered in 2000, but a general slowdown, associated with the recession in the United States began in 2001, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia, though a general recovery has been seen since then. China has retained high growth rates throughout the period.

The text is one of the best one-volume overviews of Sino-Southeast Asian relations both economic and political available today. It is well-written, copious in its documentation and quite clear. Its importance, however, could have been broadened by a comparative concluding chapter concerning diaspora communities and economic relations. China is not alone in having overseas communities which are bound by feelings of kinship and investment potential. Similar roles can be found with overseas Indian communities, which are playing a major role in the economic growth in the Indian high-tech sector, one of the few in which China is seeking to learn lessons from Indian economic success instead of vice-versa.