Chinese Diasporas and new Chinese migration to Southeast Asian countries

The article is devoted to Chinese Diasporas of Southeast Asiancountries, their size and structure. The article researches different models of assimilation of ethnic Chinese population, ethnic Chinesebusiness role in local economy, ''new'' Chinese migration's impact on Chinese Diasporas in the countries, changes within the Diasporasat the period of ''new'' migration. Chinese Diasporas in Southeast Asian countries formed at colonial period of history and since thenhave been considered the oldest and the largest Chinese Diasporas in the world. 75% of all overseas Chinese live in Southeast Asiancountries. In spite of general similarity between Chinese Diasporas in Southeast Asian countries, there are several different modelsdepending on the level of assimilation and their position in the social scale. Regardless of the level of diasporas' assimilation there is onecommon feature for all Chinese Diasporas in Southeast Asian countries. China's rapid growth affected their ethnic self-identification.China's economic growth enhanced Southeast Asian Chinese business focus on China. That caused the growth of Southeast AsianChinese's ethnic consciousness. Being Chinese became fashionable in Southeast Asian countries. Chinese Diasporas' relations with localpopulation is another important question for understanding their role in Southeast Asian countries. From the first days of SoutheastAsian countries' independence Ethnic Chinese encountered segregation. Segregation was caused by local population discontent withChinese economic power and attempts to equalize it by granting local population more rights. Chinese Diasporas in Southeast Asiancountries were not directly engaged in politics. The base of Chinese Diasporas' authority is their economic power. That is why despiteobstacles for their engagement in politics, Chinese Diasporas keep economic leverages so they are tightly connected with political elites.Chinese Diasporas control a significant part of regional economy and they invest heavily in Chinese economy. Their interests arepresented in different sectors of economy. The size of ''new'' Chinese migration to Southeast Asian countries is not so significant incomparison with the size of Chinese Diasporas in the countries. ''New'' Chinese migration has an impact upon countries withinsignificant Chinese Diasporas, such as Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. ''New'' Chinese migration to the countries grows as economiccooperation between China and those countries increases. ''New'' Chinese migration has led to growth of existing diasporas andstrengthening their contacts with China.

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