Institute of Pacific Relations

Overseas Chinese and the People's Republic

Author(s): Victor Purcell
Source: Far Eastern Survey, Vol. 19, No. 18 (Oct. 25, 1950), pp. 194-196
Published by: Institute of Pacific Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3024635
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 The Soviet Union recently decided to exchange am- closure both of the Rangoon University and the Ran?
bassadors with Burma. Although the Soviets did not goon General Hospital. But such immediate needs will
enter any objections when Burma's membership in the take only a small part of any sizable loan.
United Nations was proposed, the Russians have been It now appears that Burma may have a fair chance
cool toward the Thakin Nu government. At the WFTU to undertake large-scale reconstruction. While there are
conference held in Peking in November 1949, Thakin still insurgents roaming the hills, and while new insur-
Nu was named with Hatta of Indonesia and Nehru of rections are not impossible, the government's grip is now
India as "a stooge of the imperialists." firmer than it has been. Defense Chief Lieutenant Gen?
While the radical press frequently uses the eral term Ne Win is also Home Minister and Deputy Prime
"Anglo-American" as an epithet of vituperation, Minister
there in the present cabinet. The main body of troops
is no general tendency to couple the two countries in
has remained steadily loyal, new forces have been added,
double-barrelled blame. Certainly there is little loveand
lostgreater discipline is being maintained.
for Great Britain among the people. Yet responsible Additional military equipment would be useful and
welcome, but Burma's great need is not for more arm
officials and non-Communist political leaders recognize
that the British government has probably handled butitsfor more productivity. Burma can become a mode
ticklish Burmese problem as well as was possible, of reconstruction
and in southern Asia. Here the restoration
of existing economic facilities will show great and im?
that Britain, by force of circumstance if not of natural
affection, will continue to be helpful to Burma. mediate benefits, and thus improve the prospects for
Toward the United States the prevailing attitude is
long-range construction and planned development.
one of mingled hope and skepticism?skepticism because
US policy, in supporting Bao Dai, in bolstering Chiang
Kai-shek in Formosa, and in other of its dealings with Overseas Chinese and the
Asian affairs, has seemed to many Burmans to demon-
strate a lack of understanding of Asian peoples and a People's Republic
desire to back up any kind of non-popular rule so long
as it was anti-Communist. For all of the Socialists' own Manila, September 17
F^ollowing their victories in China in 1949, the
struggle with the Communists, their sympathies are not
? Central People's Government attempted to rally t
with Bao Dai nor with Chiang Kai-shek. Yet Burma
their support the overseas Chinese in southeast Asia
stood together with the majority of the United Nations
An officially inspired article in Ta Kung Pao of Shan
in condemning the North Korean aggression in spite of
hai at the end of January 1950 declared that "th
serious doubt as to the wisdom of past and future Amer?
ican action in the Orient. 10,000,000 overseas Chinese shall not and must not be
subjected to any further abuse," and in particula
The hope in Burma is that the United States will
warned the Siamese government of the consequence
discover that it is not enough to provide arms and
of its anti-Chinese policy. Indochina and Malaya wer
military supplies to ensure a stable government, but
also mentioned, but in an incidental manner. Not ver
that it is perhaps even more necessary to reduce the
long before this, in a New Year's broadcast aimed
popular appeal of revolutionary extremism by imple-
at overseas Chinese, Ho Hsing-ming, Director of Over?
menting real economic progress; and that this economic
seas Chinese Affairs, had said: "... with the growth
progress must develop from the capacities and outlook
of the unprecedented might of the Chinese people, the
of the people, rather than out of any arbitrary assign-
social status of overseas Chinese throughout the world
ment of goals made by aliens.
will be elevated. . . . At the same time we must in-
The publicity concerning the Point Four program was
crease our vigilance against the imperialist scheme
very favorably received, although it has been commented
sow discord between us and the local peoples. T
that the appropriations for it are inadequate to the point
overseas Chinese can attain real freedom, equality,
of being mealy-mouthed. It has been reported that the
a lasting peaceful life only when the local peoples
Prime Minister has asked for a US loan of fifty million
really liberated." In the same broadcast Mr. Ho al
dollars. The country will need that much and more
spoke of the means taken in China to facilitate t
to begin work on its plans for hydro-electric worksremittances of overseas Chinese.1
(the Yunzalin scheme), a paper mill, a steel rolling
plant, and the repairs of roads and railways. Some part 1 At the end of August 1950, however, the Chinese remit?
of a new foreign loan will have to be put to immediate tances from Malaya to China had fallen by 90 percent, owin
to the prevailing uncertainty as to whether they would really
use. For at present the Rangoon municipality is practi-reach the persons for whom they were intended, and in a
cally bankrupt, whole village tracts are desolated, many
lesser degree to the limit of $5 per family imposed by the
schools are closed, and there is a recurrent threat ofMalaya authorities.
194 FAR EASTERN SURVEY

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 But while the Ta Kung Pao and the Director of into the room. They were all young, and made no
Overseas Chinese Affairs were rather general in their pretense of being anything other than fanatical Com?
denunciation of the "imperialist governments of south?munists. It was indeed strange that the local Chinese
east Asia," Liu Shao-chi, Vice-Chairman of the World community should be represented by such a press. But
Federation of Trade Unions, was somewhat more it was clear from conversation with individual business
explicit. "It is necessary [he said] to create strong
men that they had not been converted from private en?
terprise to public ownership and trading. They expressed
people's armies of liberation, skilled in fighting against
the enemy, under the leadership of the Communist the view that when the Communists came (if they d
Party, and also supporting bases for the operation of come) they would be able to carry on trading as
these armies . . . the armed struggle is the main form usual. They acquiesced in the attitude of the Chinese
of struggle in the national liberation movement in manypress merely as a form of insurance.
colonies and semi-colonies. . . ." In Indochina the control of the press by the auth?
What has been the reaction of the overseas Chinese orities (Vietnamese, supported by the French military
themselves to the changed situation in China? The arm) was effective, and there were no Communist
following observations made during a visit to Burma, papers. The Chinese in the whole of Vietnam, Cam?
Thailand, Indochina, Malaya, Indonesia, and the bodia, and Laos total about a million, according to
Philippines in July, August, and September 1950 may official estimates. Some 400,000 of them were com-
help to give an answer to this question. pressed into the very overcrowded city of Cholon, and
The feeling of the writer is that the Chinese in were carrying on business as best they could in the
southeast Asia are, generally speaking, leaving the disturbed conditions. The Chinese community in Burma
forces of Communism and democracy to fight out the (about 250,000) was too small to be of much local im-
issue without themselves intervening. They have by portance politically. The Burmese government having,
no means turned Communist in spirit, but in most of however, recognized the People's Government of China,
the countries of the area they find it expedient to give and having exchanged diplomatic representatives with
at least lip service to the Communist cause. The Chinese it, nearly all the staff of the old Nationalist embassy
press in Burma, Siam, and (to a lesser extent) Indo? and consulate had agreed to serve the People's Govern?
nesia, which had previously supported the Kuomintang ment in the same capacity as before. Besides Burma,
or had been neutral, had turned Communist?or at Indonesia had recognized the People's Government,
least now supported the People's Government. In Mal? as had Great Britain, though the question of receiving
aya, on the other hand, there were only two Chinese People's Government consuls in Malaya was still under
Communist newspapers, but these sailed as near the discussion in Peking and London.
wind as they dared. The circulation of the Chinese In Malaya the continuance of the Communist ter-
press in southeast Asia was small in proportion to rorist campaign complicated the attitude of the local
the size of the Chinese communities, but these papers Chinese toward the People's Government. The success
were none the less the sole organs of opinion. In effect of the Communists in China meant that the local ter-
they represented mainly the views of the newspapermen rorists would receive at least moral support from
themselves, who were mainly leftists. Peking, which would stiffen their resistance and so pro-
The contrast between the mercantile and therefore long the disorders in Malaya which were costing many
"capitalistic" nature of the local Chinese Chinese com? Chinese lives and injuring Chinese economy. Malayan
munities and the pro-Communist Chinese press was Chinese were apprehensive of the future. At the same
strikingly brought home to the writer during histime there was at first a widespread satisfaction among
visit
to Thailand. He interviewed the members of the com? them that China was once again a power and would
mittee of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Bang? therefore be in a position to support the claims of the
kok. They were typical prosperous-looking, middle-aged overseas Chinese against those of the southeast Asian
Chinese business men representing the trading interests governments. But as time went on letters from their
of the bulk of the 3,000,000 Chinese in Thailand. But families in China about the treatment they had received
to questions regarding politics and education they at the hands of the Communists (especially in the mat-
returned the answer that they were only merchants ter of taxation and capital levies) had caused a
and knew nothing of these matters. Their only duty, they revulsion of feeling, which was, of course, stronger
said, was to obey the laws of the country they were in. among the well-to-do than among the laborers.
As the committee was leaving the room, the writer Incidentally, a Chinese economist whom the writer
was asked by their spokesman if he would now interview met in Bangkok explained his reluctance to visit his
the Chinese press. This he agreed to do, and immediate? family in China as being due mostly to the existence
ly six reporters representing the Chinese newspapers filed in Canton of a weekly Day of Confession. All adults,
OCTOBER 25, 1950 195

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he said, were required to meet and to confess their sins take a nationalistic stand, which would be difficult
against the Communist regime during the past week. reconcile with Communism's declared independence
Eventually the Party line was expounded, and those national divisions.
who were declared to have erred were called upon to The figure for Chinese in the Philippines commonly
admit their errors and to express contrition with tears accepted among those qualified to form an opinion was
streaming from their eyes to demonstrate their sin- in September 1950 in the neighborhood of 250,000.
cerity. This was too much for the economist, who had Illicit immigration was undoubtedly in progress on a
come under Western influences. Compared with this fairly big scale. The legal quota for alien immigration
invasion of the freedom of the individual, the forced had previously been 500 per nationality, but this figure
labor reported to be exacted from all persons (such had now been reduced to 50. The Chinese in the Philip?
as washing the uniforms of the Communist troops, pines were still ostensibly supporters of the Nationalist
digging latrines, etc.) was of small importance. In regime, and the Chinese ambassador represented the
Malaya several leading Chinese presented to the writer Kuomintang government. The Chinese press in Manila
copies of When the Communists Come: The Story of (five dailies with a total circulation of only about
a Typical Chinese Village under the "New Democracy" 30,000) was careful to observe the official regulations,
(in English and Chinese), published by the United
and only one paper (the Chinese Commercial News)
States Information Service. It was clear that this
favored the Communist cause. The principal daily
pamphlet was approved by the better-off Chinese,
paper, the Fukien Times, attempted to steer a middle
though its appeal to the ordinary Chinese course
shopbetween
as? the Nationalists and the Communists,
sistant or laborer was more doubtful. while the remaining three dailies were still Nationalist.
Altogether the Chinese population in the Philippines was
A number of Chinese leaders in Malaya have come
out strongly against the Chinese bandits and the extremely cautious in its behavior, since any act con?
People's Government, but there is still a very general at- sidered by the authorities to be politically undesirable
titude of "wait and see" among the Malayan Chinese, might be followed by expulsion. In the campaigns
in spite of the fact that they themselves provide most of against the Hukbalahap, however, some Chinese had
the victims of the terror. In the meantime the reset- been among the insurgents killed or captured.
tlement of Chinese squatter communities on the fringes In short, the attitude of the Chinese in southeast
of the jungle (an operation very popular among Asia the both toward the People's Government of China
and toward local governments is decided more by
squatters themselves as they now receive permanent title
prudential considerations than by emotional ones. The
to their new land) proceeds, and in this there is prom-
ise of an eventual answer to the bandit campaign?thatoutcome of the war at present being waged in Korea
is, if Malaya remains secure from outside interference. exercise a very important effect on the outlook of
will
the southeast Asian Chinese. victor purgell
The Minister of Information in Indonesia in Sep?
tember 1950 placed the number of Chinese in his Mr. Purcell, long a British civil servant in Malaya
country at about 2,000,000. Many informed Indonesians Professor of Far Eastern History at Cambridge Uni
considered the Chinese question to be the most outstand- is now preparing a volume on the Chinese in southe
to be published by the Institute of Pacific Relations.
ing of all local problems. The Peranakans (Indonesian-
born persons of Chinese ancestry) were being given two
FAR EASTEiN SyHVIY
years in which to decide whether they would become
Indonesian citizens or would remain aliens. Those who Editor: miriam s. farley

did not specifically elect to remain aliens would be con? Editorial Board: katrine r. g. greene, william
sidered to have chosen Indonesian citizenship. The L. HOLLAND,, LAWRENCE K. ROSINGER

Peranakans were waiting to see whether, as aliens, they Assistant Editor: elizabeth gonverse
would be accorded full equality with Indonesians, es? PUBLISHED FORTNIGHTLY (MONTHLY IN SUMMER) BY
pecially in the matter of owning land (which under THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PACIFIC RELATIONS, INC,
1 EAST 54TH STREET, NEW YORK 22, N. Y. GERARD SWOPE
Dutch rule was forbidden to aliens), before making up Chairman; william l. holland, Executive Vice Chair-
their minds. In the meantime the Chinese retained con? man; donald b. straus, Treasurer; katrine r. c.
trol of 95 percent of the industry of Indonesia. A few greene, Assistant Secretary; tillie g. shahn, Assistant
Treasurer. annual subscription., $6.00; single copies,
weeks before the writer's visit the new ambassador 25 GENTS. MICROFILM EDITION AVAILABLE THROUGH
UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS, ANN ARBOR; MICH.
from the People's Republic of China had arrived with
The American Institute of Pacific Relations does not
his staff. Indonesian officials in September 1950 were
express opinions on public affairs. Responsibility for state
curious to observe what line the People's Government
ments of fact or opinion appearing in the far eastern
would adopt toward the Chinese of Indonesia. The
survey rests solely with the authors. The editors are
responsible for the selection and acceptance of articles.
local Chinese community would certainly expect it to
196 FAR EASTERN SURVEY
>357

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