The PRC's overseas Chinese policy

Abstract

This thesis examines the People's Republic of China's (PRC) overseas Chinese policy from its founding to the present. Over time China's overseas Chinese policy has evolved to reflect changing migration patterns and favorable international conditions. The overseas Chinese have been both a problem and an instrument of China's domestic and foreign policy agenda. The one constant in Beijing's domestic agenda has been the need to attract foreign exchange--primarily through the overseas Chinese in the form of remittance or investment. Moreover, there has been significant continuity in its foreign policy and corresponding overseas Chinese policy. One of Beijing's primary foreign policy objectives has been to restore relations with its neighbors. Therefore, China sought diplomatic relations with its Southeast Asian neighbors and made efforts to solve the overseas Chinese dual nationality problem. Finally, China's third and fourth generation leaders have undertaken a more pragmatic, sophisticated, and subtler foreign policy approach to achieving Beijing's ambitions. China's "new diplomacy" is changing the way its neighbors view the emerging power and their overseas Chinese communities. Thus, the estimated 35 million overseas Chinese have become assets in connecting China to the outside world.