Redefining the Position of the Overseas Chinese

Will this year be like old times?

About two years ago, the atmosphere of the Double Tenth began to take on rather a different form.

During the 1991 celebrations, to prevent actions directed against the military parade, the police set up barriers to separate off members of the public who tried to watch. Just as thousands of voices in the parade sang out a loud chorus of, "Love for China Crosses the Four Seas." a man on the other side of the barbed wire excitedly shouted out: "We pay taxes, but we cannot see the parade! Why are those overseas Chinese inside so privileged?"

The overseas Chinese present did not know what had happened. The next day, just as in previous years, the overseas Chinese happily took their seats in the buses arranged for them by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC) to pay a visit to the south. They never thought that on arrival in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung area, local people would throw eggs at them. It was quite a shock for leaders of the overseas Chinese who had always been welcomed as returning heroes in the past.

Dubious loyalties?

This wave of opinion against the overseas Chinese has already spread to everyday matters. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators frequently ask members of the OCAC in parliament, "Our own nation's people cannot get through the narrow door into university, so why do the overseas Chinese have the privilege of returning here to study?" Or, "The OCAC spends a load of our people's hard-earned money every year to look after people who might be of Chinese lineage, but who are foreigners who have not done us any service. What degree of loyalty to the country do these people have?" Even more extreme are calls to axe the OCAC altogether.

"Nowhere else in the world can you find this kind of organization," says Trong R. Chai, who lived in the United States for more than 30 years and is now a member of the Legislative Yuan. "I do not know what Taiwan is up to. The Overseas Chinese do not recognize you, but you still go there to ceaselessly pester them; you do not want to retake the mainland and do not want them to shift their national loyalties. What is it, then, that you want the overseas Chinese to do?" Bluntly, he says, "Let's just let each go his own way."

Every October overseas Chinese come flocking back like migrating birds to the National Day festival to find a feeling of belonging that is not easy to get abroad. （Photo by Vincent Chang）

All are foreigners:

When you analyze it closely, this attitude of opposition to the overseas Chinese is very complex. Of course, part of the opposition of the DPP is to "all those old overseas Chinese who do not even know where Taiwan is." Thus it was that when some legislators advocated slashing the OCAC's budget, once official guarantees were given that more care would be taken of new overseas Chinese in future, they did not persist with the issue. Some legislators oppose giving the children of Southeast Asian overseas Chinese the privilege of coming to Taiwan to study; but this subject is not mentioned when discussing the help that overseas Chinese give Taiwanese businessmen in investing in their countries. From another angle, there are people who feel even more strongly against the overseas Taiwanese, thinking that they are opportunistic and just grease their heels every time the going gets rough: they basically are not a part of the ROC's community of shared destiny.

In October 1989, there appeared in a newspaper a reader's letter which revealed the following reasoning for opposing the system of electing overseas representatives to the Legislative Yuan: "The great majority of the so-called 30 million overseas Chinese compatriots, no-matter whether they are old or new overseas Chinese, have sworn allegiance to the foreigners of their country; those who still carry ROC passports are as rare as the morning stars."

Sun Yat-sen once said, "The Overseas Chinese are the mother of the revolution." What place do they occupy in the hearts of citizens today? （photo from the collection of the Hawaii Chinese History Center）

A pragmatic rich man:

The overseas Chinese have naturally been affected by the various voices of opposition in the country. “Now that Taiwan seems to have become a rich man, nobody seems to care," says Chen Kuang-siu, an overseas Chinese from Sarawak who returned to Taiwan for the Kuomintang's fourteenth party congress. He expresses the shared sentiments of many overseas Chinese.

Are we really so mercenary that once we get a bit of money we do not want the overseas Chinese? Sun Yat-sen once said, "The overseas Chinese are the mother of the revolution." Can it really be that today they have become a national burden? Concerning the wave of opinion against the overseas Chinese, Kuomintang legislator C.J. Chen, once vice minister for foreign affairs, thinks that this is an unavoidable phenomenon of democratization.

Chen says. :There were also such voices in the past. However, in the authoritarian period, there was no way for people to speak out so openly, so now it feels like the voices are louder."

Minister of the OCAC John Chang also frankly points out that now that there is a problem of national identity, the overseas Chinese question is unavoidable. "People who advocate Taiwanese independence only want to look after the affairs of Taiwan. With the overseas Chinese being the umbilical cord of the ROC, of course they want to cut it."

This Cadillac in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall was donated to President Chiang Kai-shek by Overseas Chinese from the Philippines.

Encouraged, yet wounded:

With democratization, a multitude of voices has arisen. To the overseas Chinese it sounds like they are not all unacceptable.

"These changes in domestic politics are in fact wholly normal phenomena and very healthy; it is unhealthy to have no movements of change," says C.K.Sung, who went to study in Germany 22 years ago and settled down there after graduation. Only after heated debate can you achieve some kind of a mean. But as an overseas Chinese who left the country more than 20 years ago, faced with these situations, Sung's emotions are those of, "both stranger and relative--really mixed up."

What the overseas Chinese do care about is that, just as Chen Kuang-siu says: "We have watched our homeland develop economically from the period of overcoming great difficulties, to being able to enter the mainstream of today and give government to the people. This kind of achievement is something that Chinese the world over are proud of; but the people of the country should not rub out the heartfelt sentiment that blood is thicker than water."

The Overseas Chinese who acted as donors in previous years now come back to study Taiwan's economic achievements. Here they are on a tour of the Hey Song soft drinks factory organized by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission.

Marriage and work are sacrificed:

"The overseas Chinese who are concerned about the nation are not just the older generation," says Juliana Tzyy, vice president of California's Le Conte Tech, who came back to Taiwan in September to attend the International Chinese Traders Investment Cooperation Conference. Those Chinese who are now 40-50 years of age and went from Taiwan to study in the United States and put down a professional foundation there, sit down at 8.30 every evening to watch the television news from Taiwan. The next day they will discuss what they saw. "I really admire them. They not only watch, but will even memorize everything that was said."

She quietly reveals that, when it was time for the Kuomintang's fourteenth party congress, she forced her politically-enthusiastic husband to go to the Mediterranean for a holiday, and did not let him go back to Taiwan. "Over reestablishing the Revive China Society in the United States, Yen Hui-chun has already been divorced from her husband. Another friend of mine, so that he could help democracy activists after the Tienanmen Massacre, did not go to work as he should have done. Finally, his boss gave him the sack and now his wife has to go out to work to feed the family."

Deborah Chan. an announcer with the Voice of Free China, often receives letters from overseas Chinese. "Perhaps not everybody knows that the cost of posting a letter from Vietnam or Malaysia to here is the equivalent of a day's wages for them. But the overseas Chinese frequently write letters to share their feelings with us. It is because they feel that this is their own radio station," she says.

The Overseas Chinese who acted as donors in previous years now come back to study Taiwan's economic achievements. Here they are on a tour of the Hey Song soft drinks factory organized by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission.

Patriotic rationale:

Chang Tsun-wu, of Academia Sinica's Institute of Modern History, says that there are historical factors behind the enthusiastic patriotism of the overseas Chinese.

He points out that, in the past, the overseas Chinese who went abroad were all laborers who identified only with their local territory--county, region, province. At the end of the Ching dynasty, with the failure of the 100 Days Reform, the reformist royalist protectors Kang Yu-wei and Liang Chi-chao, both Cantonese, fled abroad. They published newspapers and established schools for the overseas Chinese in all kinds of places, stirring up patriotic thinking. It was only then that the overseas Chinese began to identify with their country and became enthusiastic about politics. The rise of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary organization, the United League, which occurred after the disintegration of Kang's party, was by-and-large connected to Sun's Cantonese background.

The overseas Chinese did not only donate money to support Sun Yat-sen, but came back to join in the revolution and establish the Republic of China. They even continued to support the Northern Expedition to unite the country, and the Sino-Japanese War. After victory over the Japanese, China became one of the world's four great powers. Many countries at this time also revoked their anti-Chinese laws. Chinese overseas were filled with pride, and the centripetal force of the motherland reached its peak.

"Due to place, people and time, the relationships of the overseas Chinese with the motherland have undergone many different transformations. The communications of overseas Chinese with the motherland in the nineteenth century were blocked, but their feelings were still very intense," points out C.J. Chen. From revolution, founding the nation, the Northern Expedition, the Sino-Japanese War, the period of martial law, to today, the fortunes of the overseas Chinese have always been linked with those of the ROC.

Overseas Chinese, who once thought of themselves as being Chinese their whole lives, are now gradually integrating into the societies where they live. Such is the case with Los Angeles mayoral candidate, Mike Woo.

Overseas Chinese dedicate a presidential

car: "It is not nice to hear, but our ROC was basically established by the overseas Chinese." Secretary general of the OCAC, Chao Lin, says that the way nobody these days pays any attention to the contributions of the overseas Chinese is extremely unfair.

"When we had just come to Taiwan, there was a shortage of foreign exchange. When bad flooding occurred in 1959, overseas Chinese donated large sums to rebuild over 20 elementary schools, and their substantial investments back home speak for themselves. Even the presidential car was donated by overseas Chinese from the Philippines. It is still on display at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. You can go and see it," he says with emotion. The simple feelings of adoration for the motherland felt by the overseas Chinese in the past have become more varied today. In the past, the overseas Chinese always cherished the idea of returning to their roots--but now there are more and more roots. Whereas previously they felt that they would be forever Chinese, now most of the people who live in advanced nations identify with where they live and only admit to having been Chinese when they were born.

"In fact, the pull of the motherland among Chinese is naturally weakening," says Chang Tsun-wu. On the one hand, Taiwan does not need them economically like it did before. On the other hand, "They send gifts back to their native villages in mainland China, build bridges and repair roads, often giving them the names of the donor. This provides them with great feelings of satisfaction," says Chang Tsun-wu.

Moreover, Chang says, in addition to their own Chinese societies, the overseas Chinese have also started to enter into the organizations of the countries they live in, such as guilds and business associations. "In the end they discover that it is really not bad at all. Because the financial power of the businessmen in those places is relatively small, the Chinese often become leading figures in such organizations and find positions in society, becoming ever more integrated."

Bestowing gifts on their old Chinese home towns gives a great feeling of satisfaction to many Overseas Chinese.

A weight between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait:

Between the overseas Chinese and ourselves, is it really not as some of the international media observe--from being united across the four seas, to gradually more and more distance?

It seems, however, that we cannot have no overseas Chinese. Contrary to appearances, this group of people, who at present outnumber the residents of Taiwan, have not withdrawn from the history of the ROC; on the contrary, no matter whether it is from a political or economic angle, this massive force still is still a key influence.

John Chang says that at this stage of developing relationships between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the role of the overseas Chinese is very important. "They are a kind of pressure group. They can be used as a kind of weight: whichever side they stand on, that side will have more weight," he points out. They can also influence the views of the governments where they live concerning the relationship between Taiwan and mainland China.

With the ROC government now actively seeking to enter the United Nations, it is appealing to the overseas Chinese to wield their influence. Although the DPP may have been jibing that the government "does not expect much from its own Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but expects things from those 'foreigners,''' Chang Tsun-wu feels that this is not a joking matter. "In an overall war, who says that foreign relations must be a matter for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs alone?"

People have begun to doubt the degree of patriotic loyalty held by Overs eas Chinese with dual nationality.

A network of links with the West:

The overseas Chinese also wield a corresponding influence on domestic democratization. When the New Kuomintang Alliance wanted to establish a new political party, they went to the United States and Southeast Asia to seek support. John Chang readily admits that the abolishment of the blacklist which used to exist to stop certain people from entering Taiwan was largely related to hard work on the part of overseas Chinese.

In Southeast Asia, the overseas Chinese play a very important role. Academics point out that it is because Singapore is a central link for overseas Chinese it has an important place in Southeast Asia.

In other Southeast Asian countries, many overseas Chinese have had very close relationships with the original colonial governments. Such is the case with Singapore's Lee Kuan-yew, who received an English education. The West pays great attention to what he says. The overseas Chinese of Vietnam have many members with close relationships with the French government, and the overseas Chinese in the upper echelons of Indonesian society have close links with Holland. "Our government has probably not yet noticed this aspect of their influential strength," Chang Tsun-wu remi

nds us.

"The overseas Chinese are definitely a resource for us, not a burden. Not only is there the traditional reason--blood kinship--but from a practical angle our relationship with the overseas Chinese needs to be strengthened." C. J. Chen thinks that the people of our country should have historical vision. We should remember the past and have foresight, understanding how the overseas Chinese can help us in future. We should not just look at what is in front of our eyes. "What is being done at present is sowing: we need not expect a harvest immediately."

Whether or not teenage idols L.A. Boys are ROC nationals does not seem t o be much of an issue.

World-class rich men:

Looking at it from the economic aspect, the secretary general of the China External Trade Development Council (CETRA), Agustin Lin, points out that all the countries of the world are striving to expand their economic territory and talking about making alliances. In the past it was political alliances such as NATO and the Warsaw Pact; now it is the European Community and the North American Free Trade Agreement. "For us, the overseas Chinese of all places are the best partners for our alliances. There is a kind of mutual benefit."

The economic strength of the Chinese is something that the world is watching. Japan's Nik-kei Shinbun carried a report that the foreign exchange reserves of the overseas Chinese of the whole world amount to US$ 300 billion. Britain's Economist reported that the accrued capital of the Chinese outside mainland China, excluding stock, is US$ 1.5--2 trillion. This will have a vast impact on world development.

Concerning the government's recent Chinese Business International Investment Cooperation Seminar, veteran China Times reporter, Wu Fu-sheng, thinks, "There is a quiet battle going on between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to win over the capital of overseas Chinese businesses."

Apart from capital, the overseas Chinese are also an important human resource for the upgrading of the ROC's economy.

Figures show that 48 percent of the companies in the Hsinchu Science-Based industrial Park are overseas Chinese companies--set up by people who went abroad in earlier years to study. Moreover, the ability to smoothly transfer industries which are no longer suitable for the domestic climate to overseas locations is also related to the overseas Chinese -- this time those who came back to Taiwan to study.

"We have certainly not paid attention to the relationship with Southeast Asia. Nobody has studied, Indonesian and Malay. Why is it then that our businessmen can invest in those places so easily now?" Chang Tsun-wu thinks that this is because in previous years people who identified with Chinese culture and our country sent their children over here to study. These people have become the bridge for present investment from Taiwan in Southeast Asia. This is an unexpected bonus.

For these reasons, Wu thinks that DPP policy towards the overseas Chinese will definitely change. "Otherwise they will not get outside Taiwan's door. We only need to go out, and we find ourselves in the sphere of influence of the overseas Chinese."

Today overseas Chinese. tomorrow citizens:

In fact, the lines of demarcation are becoming increasingly blurred. When Lin Wen-yueh, professor of Chinese at National Taiwan University, retired this year, it was reported that she wanted to go to America to live with her children. Probably nobody thought that she was going to become an "overseas Chinese" when they read this news. Nobel Prize winner Dr. Yuan T. Lee is about to come back to Taiwan with his family, to contribute more to the country's technological circles: probably nobody ever thought that this "overseas Chinese" would want to return to his roots.

Chang Wen-cheng, a business manager who returned from Argentina to take part in the International Chinese Traders Investment Cooperation Conference did not think that there had been a deterioration in the relationship between the overseas Chinese and the people in Taiwan. "Previously, if you were not satisfied with the government or the ambassador, you did not dare say so. You were afraid that you would go on the blacklist and not be able to come back to Taiwan. Now, whatever your opinions, you can speak out. In fact, the relationship is even closer."

He says that flying back from Argentina takes 28 hours. This will to come back--if it is not to support the government, then what is it? He thinks that the nature of the meeting will not let him get any tangible business accomplished, but making Chinese business acquaintances from different places and gaining an understanding of the domestic situation is certainly very good. "If there are more of these meetings later, I will come again," he says. You cannot please everybody all the time. Why is it that they are all our own people, but there are such different feelings?

"This kind of confusion is really not easy to resolve. The wisdom of the former generation was used to defend the country and defeat brute force, and to establish a foundation for Taiwan. Now it is these new problems which are testing the wisdom of this generation," says C.K. Sung with a sense of profundity.

The young know not the taste of hostility:

Among the Saturday night variety programs, L.A. Boyz, a group of overseas Chinese idols who have come to Taiwan to develop their performing careers, hold an impersonation contest for their fans. Groups of youngsters coming from Hsinchuang, Kaohsiung and even Canada, enthusiastically sing their famous songs and go through the same street dances. The mimicry and identification between them leaves people aghast.

In their hearts, whether you are overseas Chinese or not, what is the difference?

[Picture Caption]

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Every October overseas Chinese come flocking back like migrating birds to the National Day festival to find a feeling of belonging that is not easy to get abroad. (Photo by Vincent Chang)

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Sun Yat-sen once said, "The Overseas Chinese are the mother of the revolution." What place do they occupy in the hearts of citizens today? (photo from the collection of the Hawaii Chinese History Center)

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This Cadillac in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall was donated to President Chiang Kai-shek by Overseas Chinese from the Philippines.

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After the floods of 1959, the Overseas Chinese donated money to build schools in the worst hit areas south of Miaoli. Altogether, Taiwan has over 20 such schools with the Chinese character for "Overseas Chinese" in their names.

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The Overseas Chinese who acted as donors in previous years now come back to study Taiwan's economic achievements. Here they are on a tour of the Hey Song soft drinks factory organized by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission.

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Overseas Chinese, who once thought of themselves as being Chinese their whole lives, are now gradually integrating into the societies where they live. Such is the case with Los Angeles mayoral candidate, Mike Woo.

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Bestowing gifts on their old Chinese home towns gives a great feeling of satisfaction to many Overseas Chinese.

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People have begun to doubt the degree of patriotic loyalty held by Overseas Chinese with dual nationality

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Whether or not teenage idols L.A. Boys are ROC nationals does not seem t o be much of an issue.

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Dr. Yuan T. Lee is about to return and make Taiwan his home. Does this piece of news tell us that the new Overseas Chinese also want to make more of a contribution to their places of origin, and even to return to their roots? (photo by Pu Hua-chih)