CLAIMING COMMUNITY: HOW CHINESE ETHNO-NATIONALISM IMAGINES CONTACT POINTS FOR INFLUENCE IN SINGAPORE AND TAIWAN

Abstract

Official Chinese ethno-nationalism contains claims that Singapore and Taiwan, as countries with a majority of (claimed) ethnic Chinese descent, have to respond to. This project seeks to establish the mechanism by which the Chinese claim enables influence on the national identities of Singapore and Taiwan. Strategically placed individuals in those two countries playing the role imagined for them by the China’s national narrative can serve as contact points between Chinese and local discourse. Still fitting within their own national identity, they help introduce elements of the PRC state-driven narrative into their own social context. The overall compatibility of imported Chinese narratives with domestic national identity determines the response to these imported ideas outside their pockets of understanding. It is not just the degree of the Chinese claim but also its fit in the target’s national narrative that makes contact points possible. Explaining how this transmission happens will help the academic debates about diasporas as well as the burgeoning literature on foreign interference.