Chinese emigration is on a long-term rising trend. Many Chinese of all stripes have mustered the courage to leave China for a better life in another country. However, thanks to the current regime, the shadow of the Chinese Communist Party follows all emigrants wherever they go. Just as the regime expects proper political behavior at home, it also expects emigrants to take the same proper political behavior with them.
The Rising Tide of Chinese Emigration: The number of native-born Chinese living outside of China has doubled since 1990 creating a diaspora of about 10.5 million people worldwide. The rate of increase has risen even more sharply in recent years owing to the Chinese government’s lockdowns of large urban populations during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the ever increasingly stringent restrictions on individual expression. As far back as 50 years ago, about 90% of China’s emigrants moved to somewhere else in Asia such as Hong Kong or Singapore. Nowadays the ratio of Chinese emigrants remaining in Asia has declined to about 70% as more and more are seeking to live in Western countries. Many of these emigrants are at the affluent end of the scale including over 900 billionaires. They are often taking advantage of investor visa offers in countries such as the U.S. and Australia whereby the emigrants are fast tracked to visas and resident alien status after making substantial monetary investments in their new country’s economy. But many thousands more that are not rich are also leaving. Younger Chinese in particular are faced with high unemployment in a stagnating economy. They are using the term “runxue” or “the art of running” to indicate their desire to emigrate elsewhere to make a life. For those that do emigrate, China does not recognize dual citizenship, and as a result, emigrants often find it necessary to become citizens of their new countries.
The Extent of Chinese State Control: After China opened up to the world in the 1970’s, Chinese emigrants were considered to be an asset. But as the tendency to emigrate increased, the Chinese government tried to lure academics, entrepreneurs, and technical experts among others back to China. In recent times the Communist Party has gone to great lengths to remind Chinese expatriates that the reach of the party’s influence does not stop at the Chinese border. The current regime in China believes that the Chinese diaspora, no matter what country they’re in, needs to have their thought process controlled just the same as it would be in China. It appears that the Communist Party in China could be afraid that freedom of thought and especially freedom to criticize might be an infection that is translated back to the Chinese population by those safely away in other countries. Although the emigrants are residents and often citizens of their new host countries, the Chinese Communist Party still attempts to constrain their political thought and speech. The tools used to refresh this sense of the Communist Party’s influence include intimidation of political critics, propaganda fed directly to the emigrants abroad, and direct pressure on Chinese people in the diaspora to censor what they say about China, the ruling party, or Chinese affairs. Intimidation by the Communist Party has many forms including censoring electronic communications back to China via apps such as WeChat or social media. Threatening emigrants’ families remaining in China, and direct physical threats to the emigrants themselves are also popular forms of intimidation. To increase its footprint in the diaspora, the Communist Party has set up more than 100 police stations in foreign countries to regulate the thought processes of Chinese expatriates and carry out intimidation wherever necessary. Chinese political minorities abroad, such as the Uyghurs, are also carefully monitored. The Communist Party in some countries uses dodgy pretexts to bring expatriates back to China, often stepping around the host country’s legal system altogether.
The Extent of Chinese Media Control: Perhaps as many as 50% of Chinese immigrants in Western countries have weak or moderate oral and written skills in their host country’s native language. This can bind them to the Chinese media for news and entertainment programming. Propaganda then reaches the emigrants in the form of Chinese language telecasts of news, events, and life in general in China. Chinese language channels furnished by large cable companies such as Verizon, Comcast, and Spectrum offer content managed by Chinese state supported broadcasters. The Communist Party also attempts to extend control over Chinese language news sources in foreign countries. The Chinese media outlets will suppress discussions of sensitive political topics (Tibet, Uyghurs, pro-democracy rallies, etc.) and attempt to force a wedge between the expatriates and their democratic hosts by preaching about the shortcomings of democracy in general and praising the glory of the Chinese Communist Party. The party has bought out some of the existing media outlets and created new ones to help spread its propaganda. WeChat is by far the most popular method for emigrants to communicate with family and friends in China. To censor an emigrant’s communications with anyone in China, WeChat uses a series of algorithms that are maintained and updated on a regular basis. This manner of surveillance includes accessing a device’s personal id and monitoring the user’s physical location.
The Impact on Students and Academia: The reach of the Communist Party’s ability to control or manipulate information extends also into host countries’ universities. About 10% of all Chinese living outside of China are students, researchers, or professors in colleges and universities in their host countries. Chinese students in Western colleges are constantly reminded by official party organizations that their status in the new country is temporary, and that they will likely be sent back to China upon completion of their studies. Western colleges and universities have the Chinese Students and Scholars Association there to help the Chinese students with their needs in their host countries. But this group all too often plays a political role to maintain the state approved manner of thinking among the students. Chinese students have been reported as being reluctant to speak up in class or sit next to another Chinese student who potentially could be an informant for the Chinese government. There are about 65,000 Chinese students studying abroad whose scholarships are paid for by the Chinese government. This financial support is conditional upon their loyalty and support of the Communist Party in China. This loyalty can often apply to their rendering to the party details of their research, and also patents containing confidential information that were originated by their colleagues (i.e. spying). If the recipient does not co-operate, the student’s family in China can be required to repay the scholarship. Intimidation in academia is not limited to students. Professors and researchers also face the same or similar consequences for stepping out of line. This often leads them to be very careful about the fields that they chose to pursue.
Conclusions: What matters most to a Chinese emigrant’s chances of success in the West is the individual’s ability to communicate well in English, both orally and written. When comparing the Chinese diaspora to India’s, the Chinese are less successful in business and politics even though both diasporas are based in the West, and both have wealthy and intelligent members. However, the Indians speak, read, and write, good English. Chinese emigrants are more likely to be scrutinized owing to the overbearing presence of the ruling party back home. Further, the party looks to extend its power and influence to all peoples everywhere of Chinese descent whether they were born in China or not.
Sources: No Escape, The Economist, March 2, 2024.