The Chinese Government and the Chinese Diaspora: for State Economic Development and Global Power.

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Diaspora has become an integral component of understanding the world in which we live. In the past thirty years alone, the diaspora has tripled in number to 215 million people around the world. (Aikens, diasporamatters.com) Consequently, though it may not be obvious, diaspora communities have gained great deal of influence on the political, economic and social aspects of our lives. Members of diaspora are living in a world that is more codependent, interconnected, and globalized that every before. Resultantly, countries are beginning to realize that the Diaspora community is a strategic resource. As the website diasporamatters.com conveys, diaspora is constituted of global-wide connections and networks, and that engaging in diaspora can lead to "innovative ways of converting what was once considered a national loss into a mutually beneficial national asset" (Aikens, diasporamatters.com) In other words, diaspora is no longer seen as national loss, but as a resource with the potential for providing nation-states connections of influence to capital and resources across the globe. Regarding this potential, contributions of Diasporas to their countries of origin and ancestry have many features. However, this text focuses on three of the main contributions that the Chinese Diasporas has towards the People Republic of China (PRC). These contributions include remittances and foreign direct investment, state discourse, and state investment in human capital. Through discussing these three main features, this text will try to convincingly argue that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) uses diaspora not only as a means for developing its economy domestically and internationally, but also its influence on the world stage. As a result,by prope...

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...ster as profit for the state.
In accordance with remittances, direct monetary profit from the overseas Chinese has also come from the aspect of foreign direct investment (FDI). As Newland and Patrick explain that, “China has long worked to attract direct investment and open trade opportunities through overseas Chinese communities.” (Newland and Patrick 5) Arguably, that policy towards the diaspora has been used by the PRC for developing its economy domestically and internationally. This is because as Newland and Patrick further explain, remittances and foreign direct investment influence, “the incidence of poverty in their home countries, market development (including outsourcing of production), technology transfer, philanthropy, tourism, political contributions, and more intangible flows of knowledge, new attitudes, and cultural influence” (Newland and Patrick iv).

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