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As part of a series on China’s regional influence, CNA visited Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines to speak with ethnic Chinese communities. Their views reveal a mix of pride, pragmatism and concern.
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BAC NINH/MANILA/MUAR: Nicole Dang stands behind the counter of her Taiwanese specialty restaurant, greeting customers with a warm smile as the aroma of braised pork and fragrant tea fills the air.
At 40, Dang is both an entrepreneur and a bridge between cultures. Born in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City to ethnic Chinese parents, whose own families migrated from China’s Guangdong province in the 1940s, she grew up immersed in both countries’ traditions.
At this point, her father, Vinh, sitting across the dining table in their family restaurant, interjects. “I was harsh because, after all, we are Chinese,” he said firmly in Mandarin.
Willingly or not, the lessons have paid off for Dang. Since moving to Bac Ninh in the eponymous Vietnamese province a decade ago, fluency in Mandarin has underpinned her business ventures as the city becomes one of the country’s hottest hubs for Chinese money and nationals.
That’s especially true as China’s growing
Analysts say Beijing needs to be even more aware of regional sentiments and manage them carefully as geopolitical tensions and great power rivalry intensify, supercharged by a second Donald Trump presidency in the US.
Context Snippet
Bac Ninh was Vietnam’s top foreign direct
investment (FDI) destination last year,
drawing nearly US$5.12 billion in
registered capital, according to official data.
This accounted for 13.4 per cent of
Vietnam’s total FDI, a sharp rise from 2023
when the province ranked seventh with US$1.76 billion.
China is a key investor in the country. In
January this year, it ranked fourth in total
foreign investment. South Korea led with
US$1.25 billion, a 13.4-fold
increase from the previous year
, followed closely by Singapore and Japan in third place.
Breaking news
One of Bac Ninh’s major investors is Goertek, a leading acoustic components manufacturer.
One of Bac Ninh’s major investors is Goertek, a leading acoustic components manufacturer.
As foreign investments flow into Bac Ninh, so too have foreign expatriates and workers. Some 100,000 of them reside in the province, according to preliminary estimates from local officials last year. Local media reports suggest that at least half of them are from China.
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“I never imagined I’d move to the north,” she said, highlighting the fraught landscape for ethnic Chinese in northern Vietnam half a century ago.
In the late 1970s, a wave of ethnic Chinese, known as the Hoa, fled Vietnam as tensions between Hanoi and Beijing deepened. Allegations of persecution and discrimination mounted, particularly after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in late 1978, which further strained its already fraught relationship with China.
