China and India, the world's most populous countries, have huge overseas populations. Nevertheless, it is the Chinese overseas who have long been a focus of attention owing to the important role they have played, their links to China, and China's policies towards them. And, that focus has become sharper since China'srise and its efforts to use the Chinese overseas as social, political, and economic capital. Moreover, Beijing's leaders perceive that the Chinese overseas are crucial for the realization of the “China Dream”. This chapter will deal briefly with two important developments linked to China's changing policy towards the Chinese overseas: the rise of China and the recent massive waves of Chinese migration to both the developed and developing countries.

This study attempts to address the following questions: Why and when did Beijing's policy towards the Chinese overseas change? What are the factors that contributed to this change? Which are the countries in Southeast Asia that still have strong anti–Chinese feelings and where major anti–Chinese violence has continued to occur? What are the factors that contribute to anti–Chinese feelings and violence? Did Beijing go out of its way to protect the Chinese overseas who were affected by past outbreaks of violence? Why has Beijing adopted a differentiated approach in dealing with the Chinese domiciled in different countries? Does Beijing still differentiate between Chinese nationals and foreign citizens of Chinese descent? How have the Chinese overseas reacted to China's new policy? What have been the responses of the countries that host these Chinese?

Beijing's responses to anti–Chinese violence and anti– Chinese sentiments in selected countries in Southeast Asia and beyond since the end of the twentieth century would give us a clear understanding of Beijing's policy towards the countries in question. This study presents examples from four Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar), two Pacific Island countries (Solomon Islands and Tonga) and three countries in Africa and the Middle East (Egypt, Libya, and Yemen).

As Beijing's policy towards the Chinese overseas has also been the product of its responses to internal events and needs, six internal developments have been selected for this study: the Sichuan earthquake, the Beijing Olympics, the Beijing–initiated World Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs Conference, Beijing's so–called Huayi Card, its “One Belt One Road” Strategy, and the development of Chinese soft power.