INTRODUCTION

In the last decade, much has been written about globalization, the rise of China as an economic power, the impact of China's entry into World Trade Organization (WTO), the Asian Century, Southeast Asia's ethnic Chinese economy, and related topics. Conferences, workshops, and seminars on the topic have been convened in all parts of the globe. This highlights the growing interest and concern over China and its entry into the big league of global powers. This volume examines these three issues that impact on one another — globalization, the rise of China as an economic power, and the ethnic Chinese economy in Southeast Asia.

As a caveat, just like many academics, especially from China and Hong Kong who have explored and written about this topic, the chapter contributors are neither economists nor business practitioners. At best, the authors are participant-observers who have closely monitored and have been deeply involved in concerns and issues affecting China and the Chinese-Filipino community in mainstream Philippine society. It is on these grounds that this chapter is presented. Past research and studies on the topic tend to draw general conclusions based on meagre data, which have led to greater misconceptions and muddling of the issues and have been a drawback towards a better understanding of the issue. Edmund Terence Gomez and Michael Hsiao Hsin-Huang organized a seminar workshop in 1997 at the Academia Sinica in Taipei and published Chinese Business in South-East Asia (Gomez and Hsiao 2001, Preface, pp. 1–4) also as an attempt to understand the Southeast Asian situation better. Gomez pointed out that the presumption that ethnic Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia will use their racial and cultural ties and influence with China to pour in huge “overseas Chinese capital” that will have tremendous impact on the global economy in the twenty-first century is not supported by empirical data (Gomez and Hsiao 2001). Henry Yeung and Kris Olds' book, Globalization of Chinese Business Firms, likewise contains articles that provoke critical thinking on “Chinese capitalism”, “Chinese business”, and “internationalization of ethnic Chinese-owned enterprises”, (Yeung and Olds 2000) as well as some theoretical perspectives on the topic.