BACKGROUND: OVERSEAS CHINESE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79R00890A001100120008-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 17, 1998
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: December 15, 1959
• Content Type: BRIEF

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NSC BRIEFING 15 December 1959
BACKGROUND: OVERSEAS CHINESE_IN SOUTHEAST.ASIA
I, The Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, estimated at-approximately
12,000,000 and varying from 76.5 percent of the population in
Singapore to. 1.5 percent in the Philippines, provide the major
commercial and financial leadership and are the political enigma
of the area. Almost invariably they formally reflect the
ideological orientation of their host government, but their
private preferences for Peiping or Taiwan are closely guarded.
For the host governments the generally unassimilated overseas
Chinese remain a political headache.
In Burma,where official estimates place the Chinese at
300,000 and totals probably run closer to 500,000 (2.6 per-
cent of the total population of 19,500,000) Chinese
preference, where expressed, is pro-Peiping. The Bank of
China and the Chinese Communist embassy are powerful ,in
f luences and KMT activity is officially suppressed.
Military operations by KMT irregulars in the Northeast
undermine the status of pro-Taiwan Chinese. Naturalization
and assimilation are possible but difficult and prudence
causes most Chinese to avoid politics.
B. Cambodia's relations with Peiping encourage. the estimated
300,000 overseas Chinese (6 percent of the total population
of 5,000,000) to take official pro-Peiping positions. They,
however, take little direct part in politics of Cambodia.
Chinese Communist control over this group--through the Bank
of China, the embassy, and local organizations--is well
advanced.
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In Indonesia, overseas Chinese number 3,000,000 in a total
population of 85,000,000, or 3.5 percent. Peiping fears that
the Djakarta measures forcing 300,000 rural Chinese to move
into urban centers will ultimately be followed by complete
exclusion of Chinese from business activities. Pro-KMT
Chinese have already been eliminated from all economic
activities. Chinese are economically powerful and deeply
disliked by the Indonesians.
D. Laotian overseas Chinese number 30,000 or 1.5 percent of
the total population of 2 million. They are essentially unim-
portant in Laotian domestic and international problems.
E. Malayan Chinese--37.2 percent of the Federation's population--
2,343,600 of 6,300,000--are economically dominant in Malaya.
More than 90 percent of Malayan Communists are Chinese. Chinese
also make up a substantial majority in the legal left-wing
political parties. Conservative Chinese give major financial
support to Prime Minister Abdul Rahman's government through
the Malayan Chinese Association. For the Federation internally
and for its relations with Singapore, the major problem is
the cultural Malayanization of the Chinese. Deep rooted
cultural antipathy between Malay and Chinese creates an
inherently explosive situation for the country.
F. The 1.5 percent of the Philippine population which is
Chinese (330,000 in a total of 22,000,000) is formally pro-
Taiwan. Economically influential and assimilated into the
Philippine society in the past, today's unassimilated Chinese
are heartily disliked by nationalist Filipinos and have almost
no political influence. -2-
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G. Singapore is controlled by overseas Chinese who comprise
76.5. or 1,185,000, of the total population of 1,550,000.
Though the bulk of this population is pro-mainland China in
orientation, the future of Singapore depends upon maintenance
of good relations with the Federation of Malaya. Currently
the Chinese-dominated leftist government is pressing Malayani-
zation in order to appeal to the Malay-dominated government
of the Federation.
H., Thailand's Chinese are formally pro-Taiwan, although most are
politically apathetic. They comprise 15.1 percent of the
population (3,171,000 in a total of 21,000,000), they are
under constant pressure to assimilate culturally and, with the
relative stability and continuity of Thai government, they
constitute little problem for Thailand. The Chinese Communist
Party in Thailand is believed to enjoy some clandestine influence,
but must act circumspectly because of Thai police security
measures.
I. The Chinese of South Vietnam, estimated at 830,000 or 6.9
percent of the total'population of 12,100,000 have
knuckled under--after strong resistance from 1956 to
1958--to the Vietnamese government's determined assimilation
program. As elsewhere in Southeast Asia, they are economically
powerful, reflect the orientation of the host government--
pro-Taiwan--and politically weak.
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