Newest CCP Propaganda Campaign Seeks To Turn Overseas Chinese Into Fifth Column

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Oct 2, 2021
Xi Jin Ping recently declared himself President for life.

Communist China is no stranger to ethno-nationalism. From internment camps and other human rights violations of non-Han minority groups to mistreating foreign nationals with darker complexions, the CCP is no stranger to racial discrimination of any kind if the ends justify the means. In this latest episode of race baiting, the CCP seems to be taking a different route by seeking to promote ethnic pride amongst ethnic Chinese populations living outside China in an attempt to create a fifth column that the CCP can then use to fulfill its geopolitical ambitions.

According to The Epoch Times, the French Military School Strategic Research Institute (IRSEM) identified a three-pronged approach that the CCP is using to steer public opinion amongst the Overseas Chinese population with the goal of making the Chinese diaspora more welcoming of Beijing’s influence at the expense of their host countries.

The Overseas Chinese population is as varied as it is big and can be divided into two major groups. The first group consists of Chinese nationals who have emigrated from China in recent decades to the West and in particular the Anglosphere, known in Chinese parlance as Hua Qiao. The other group consists of ethnic Chinese who have lived in their respective host countries for generations and are largely concentrated in Southeast Asia, with the countries of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia each containing millions of ethnic Chinese, also known as Hua Ren.

[OC] Han Chinese Diaspora [2628x1196] : MapPorn
The largest concentration of ethnic Chinese outside Greater China is by far in Southeast Asia

Chinese Premier and Winnie-the-Pooh lookalike Xi Jin Ping sees the reintegration of ethnic Chinese living overseas as an important aspect of rejuvenating the Chinese nation, making it clear that China is a country made by and for those of Chinese ethnic stock and no one else.

One key challenge to this plan is the fact that Overseas Chinese populations that have been living in Southeast Asia for generations might not have the warmest affinity for Communist China, with many seeing the Cultural Revolution and the adoption of simplified Chinese characters by the CCP as an assault on traditional Chinese culture.

Beijing’s plan includes measures to counteract this potential hostility that will attempt to drive wedges between the Overseas Chinese and other communities within their respective hosts countries in hopes that they will turn increasingly to the Middle Kingdom for support and see it as the Motherland.

Malaysia in particular has been on the receiving end of Beijing’s overtures. In addition to attempting to integrate the polyglot Southeast Asian country into its Belt and Road Initiative, the CCP and also conducted visits to the country’s 23 percent Chinese community, in particular to Sun Yat Sen Cultural Centers in Chinese enclaves such as Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown.

The CCP is also known to provide generous funding to Chinese schools abroad as well as Confucius Institutes in Western universities as a way to soft sell the CCP to Westerners and to teach Chinese cultural chauvinism to ethnic Chinese students in order to discourage their assimilation into Western society. And with America’s Chinese population growing and being an integral part of many local economies, many are worried that Beijing will make significant headways in undermining their patriotism to this country.

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