Chinese In Southeast Asia. Post-war International Relations, Survival And Development Of The Problem And Thinking

Southeast Asia, adjacent to the mainland, has always been a "natural defense " by which the people in the coastal regions of China kept away from war chaos, developed business and trade and made a living. After World War II , the national liberation movements in Southeast Asia being like a rising wind and scudding clouds, and national countries founded one after another, the issue of ethnic Chinese, at one time, became a sensitive topic in international community. With the international situation turned from tension into detente, antagonism changed into dialogue, and more and more common interests facing the world, the issue of ethnic Chinese is increasingly localized to become mainly a domestic issue, but the interrelation between the issue of ethnic Chinese and international relations hasn't yet ended. Despite the facts that the positions of China and ethnic Chinese have since the 1990s been heightened and that the issue of ethnic Chinese is becoming hotter and hotter, the general tendency of localization has not changed.This paper aims to make an analysis of inherent connection between changes in postwar international relations and the issue of ethnic Chinese existence and development, tries to grasp the characteristics of and thread of thought of changes in the issue of ethnic Chinese, in the hope of making positive use of "ethnic Chinese" factor to promote good-neighborly relations between Southeast Asian countries and China, and pointing out a way to improvement of the environment of existence and development ofethnic Chinese themselves. This paper reveals that international relations play a more dominant role in these two, namely, when international relations develop well, space for ethnic Chinese to exist and develop will be wider; on the other hand, the issue of existence and development of ethnic Chinese is also an important factor to influence international relations, so dealing with it properly will contribute much to peace and stability of international community.This paper consists of five chapters. Chapter one, the introduction, makes an analysis of the reasons for growing interest in the study of the issue of ethnic Chinese in recent years, selection of object of study and definitions of such basic concepts as overseas Chinese, ethnic Chinese and Hua zu. Chapter two, being chiefly historical facts, deals in great details with the postwar historical contributions made by ethnic Chinese to Southeast Asia to highlight capability of ethnic Chinese's existence and development in Southeast Asia, and paves the way for development of subsequent reasoning, Chapter three, combining history with reasoning, explores mainly changes in ethnic Chinese's existence and development environment at different historical stages when changes in international relations take place, and analyses the impact of changes in international relations on the issue of ethnic Chinese's existence and development and the relation between them. Chapter four, starting with the future, explores the way to ethnic Chinese's existence and development in terms of ethnic Chinese themselves, against the backdrop of the international situation being relaxed day by day and peace and development being subjectof the times. Chapter five, combining course of historical contribution to our country of ethnic Chinese with foreign policies of China, elaborates two reflections resulted from the issue of existence and development of ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia.