Wealthy and middle class flee China - Immigrants are changing the world's landscape and causing tensions 19 January 2024
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More than 1.1 million people have left China since 2019 due to economic stagnation and disillusionment with authoritarian politics.
A Chinese community is also forming in Itoman City, Okinawa Prefecture.
According to Feng Shui experts, the central part of Bangkok's Pracharat Banpen Road resembles the belly of a dragon. This means that the area is promising. You are likely to prosper if you live or run a business here.
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As a result, real estate was in the spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic as Chinese entrepreneurs flocked to the country. For locals, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sell or rent out their homes with commercial space on the ground floor.
Chanafong Rittayamai, 52, a longtime resident, saw his neighbour's house sell for 15 million baht (about $62 million). Chanafong has turned down several offers to buy his shop. He "inherited this land from my parents and cannot rent it to anyone".
Once full of Thai-owned shops, the street is filled with Chinese-language signs advertising everything from braised pork to video production services.
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More than 1.1 million people have left China since 2019, motivated by the country's economic downturn and disillusionment with the authoritarian rule of Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping.
In communities that are not traditional destinations for Chinese money, the influx of Chinese migrants is bringing significant changes. Local traders are being squeezed out of Bangkok's city centre, rural villages in Vietnam are being turned into industrial zones, and property prices are soaring in parts of Japan's Okinawa.
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Liu Bin, 35, co-owner of a hot pot restaurant on Pracharat Banpen Road, is another recent migrant from China. His business has only been open for two weeks since last December, but he plans to open three more this year.
"China's economy is not good. I like Thailand's environment and slower pace of life," said Liu, who is from Chongqing.
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Up to 130,000 Chinese migrants live in Thailand, according to an analysis of official data by Shibalin Ratpusit, an assistant professor at Thammasat University. The number of migrants has increased recently, partly due to the introduction of long-term visas in 2022.
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Friction
While the government welcomes Chinese immigrants, there is a lot of discontent among ordinary Thais. Social media is full of complaints that the Chinese are ignoring local norms by cutting in line and talking loudly, leading to visa rules and regulations that limit foreign investment in certain businesses. There have even been allegations of violations.
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One of the most common criticisms is that Chinese-owned businesses do not contribute much to the Thai economy because they source labour, raw materials and goods from their home countries.
These issues have created several grievances in "Thai society," said Sibalin, who published a report on the impact of Chinese immigration last year.
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The changes and tensions on Pracharat Banpen Road highlight the impact that the post-coronavirus surge in Chinese immigration is having on communities around the world.
In China, the "Zero Corona" policy to thoroughly suppress the new coronavirus has been in place for about three years, and strict restrictions such as lockdowns have been imposed.
There has also been a crackdown on property speculation under President Xi's ``Common Wealth'' policy, which aims to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
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These factors have pushed wealthy Chinese to more welcoming places. Chinese business owners have sought to rebuild supply chains in response to trade tensions with the United States, including Cambodia and Mexico. The company began to expand widely.
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China does not release data on overseas migration, but United Nations figures show it has increased significantly in recent years. Annual net migration averaged just over 191,000 in the decade leading up to 2019 but has exceeded 310,000 in the last two years. This momentum doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon.
Kuala Lumpur-based property consultancy Juwai IQI predicts that more than 700,000 people will leave China over the next two years.
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Yearning for freedom
Chinese immigrants range from the wealthy buying luxury properties in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the poor trying to cross the US-Mexico border with the help of smugglers.
The largest group, however, is the middle class, which includes skilled workers, small business owners and highly educated professionals.
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Some are leaving China in search of economic opportunities. Major US technology companies are trying to reduce their reliance on China for manufacturing, encouraging Chinese suppliers to shop elsewhere.
In Vietnam's northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang, once-rural areas have been transformed into substantial industrial parks assembling electronic products from companies such as Apple. The new factory will bring in skilled managers and engineers who will try to replicate the success in mainland China.
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Chinese residents are everywhere in Bac Ninh City, the capital of Bac Ninh Province. Local restaurants take orders using QR codes on the Chinese communication app WeChat. Staff use Google Translate to order beer, and new karaoke bars and massage parlours have sprung up on the streets.
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Factory jobs pay well. Dao Xuan Cuong oversees an industrial park in the area and said senior managers can earn up to $65,000 yearly, about 16 times the local average wage.
A Chinese residential area has been built near the city centre, with luxury villas and sports utility vehicles (SUVs). One of the attractions for Chinese expatriates in Vietnam is that, unlike in their home country, the authorities do not frown on ostentatious displays of wealth.
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When he arrived at an industrial park, Dam Thanh Truong, 70, a motorbike taxi driver, was waiting outside the gate of a factory owned by China's Goretec, which makes Apple's AirPods wireless earphones. He says it is changing the lives of local people for the better.
When he was young, there were days when he couldn't buy a single grain of rice, but now, he says, his family earns at least $2,750 a month by renting rooms to foreigners working in an electronics factory. Talk.
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Chinese citizens' decision to leave their home country becomes more complex as their income increases. For those who have accumulated a certain amount of wealth, the desire for greater freedom for themselves and their children is often the driving force behind leaving the country.
For much of this century, China's rapid economic development coincided with a period in which the Chinese Communist Party exercised relatively loose control over the lives of its citizens.
Many middle-class Chinese considered themselves better off than their American counterparts, who faced stagnating incomes and declining socio-economic mobility.
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The limits of patience
Although Chinese increasingly attended overseas universities and sometimes bought property abroad, many eventually returned home.
However, attitudes began to change as General Secretary Xi pressured industries such as technology and real estate, interfering more in people's lives. And then there's the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Jason Sun, a 49-year-old Chinese businessman living in London, said he had never considered moving until a few years ago. Under pressure from Xi's leadership, Sun sent his daughter to study abroad, but he stayed in Shanghai.
He was worried that someone close to him would be accused of corruption, but he thought he would be fine if he kept a low profile. "I thought I could spend the rest of my life concentrating on enjoying life and staying out of politics," he says.
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During the coronavirus pandemic, the authorities refused Mr Sun's request to visit his parents in Zhejiang province, which borders Shanghai. His parents died a few weeks later. "The lockdown was too much for me to bear. It broke my heart, and I no longer wanted to stay in China," he said.
Getting money out of China is difficult, but Sun got it through a series of transactions disguised as imports. He now owns a four-bedroom apartment in central London, a house in Dulwich suburb, and shares in two Chinese restaurants.
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But he faced many hardships in Britain, where he immigrated. Unaccustomed to the weather, with staggering inflation rates, Soong and his daughter were robbed and their mobile phones taken. I can't say I like London, but I have no intention of returning to China,'' Sun says.
According to British government figures, China was the third largest source of non-European Union (EU) immigrants between July 2022 and June 2023, after India and Nigeria.
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Many European countries, including Portugal and Cyprus, have tightened the so-called "golden visas" criteria for investors and others, but Chinese immigrants with sufficient assets can still buy residency. Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia have recently introduced programmes to attract foreign capital.
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Okinawa
Even Japan, traditionally cautious about immigration, is loosening restrictions to attract entrepreneurs and investors. The "business manager" visa, which grants residency to those who invest 5 million yen in a business, is popular with the Chinese. In the first nine months last year, 2,768 Chinese entered Japan through this route, surpassing the annual record 2,576 in 2022.
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Although their numbers are small compared with other countries, they have a noticeable impact outside the big cities. Okinawa is Japan's poorest prefecture, and much of its economy is based on tourism. In Itoman City, official data shows that registered Chinese residents increased by 16% between mid-2019 and mid-2022.
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Locals say the area, built on reclaimed land, is now home to a community of wealthy Chinese, many of whom are involved in trade and tourism. Some residents also run accommodation facilities. One of the few restaurants is a Chinese dumpling shop. One Japanese homeowner says he gets weekly letters from property companies wanting to buy.
"I feel we're on the brink,'' said Masao Tamashiro, 72, a resident. He also stated, "I feel it is time to think about a new city," and declared, "The challenge now is maintaining a culture that saves people."
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One of the concerns about Chinese people moving overseas is the enormous amount of money flowing out of the country. French investment bank Natixis estimates it will reach $150 billion in 2023 alone. Cash from China can transform local communities, sometimes with unexpected effects.
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Vancouver, on Canada's west coast, indicates what local authorities like Itoman and Bakunin may face.
Thanks to Canada's 1986 Immigration and Investment Program, Vancouver first became home to Hong Kongers fleeing Hong Kong before the British handover to China and then began to attract wealthy Chinese. Ta. Developers built one gleaming high-rise after another.
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Ban on buying property
About 20% of the Vancouver area's 2.6 million people are Chinese, and in the sprawling suburb of Richmond, the figure is nearly 60%. Richmond city councillor Alexa Lu, a Chinese-Canadian and former Olympic snowboarder, says it's not difficult for residents to spend an entire day speaking only Mandarin.
Vancouver's Alberni Street used to be lined with small cafes and shops. But now Gucci, Rolex, Prada and more are all within walking distance. An employee at the Lao Fengxiang jewellery store estimates that 60% of his customers are Chinese.
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The soaring cost of housing in the Vancouver area finally translated into government policy, culminating in the unprecedented ban on non-Canadians buying property in the metropolis for two years from January last year.
Kevin Wang, a real estate agent who immigrated to Canada from China at the age of 15, said demand from Chinese residents remains strong and "a lot of people who are already living in Canada want to upgrade".
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Jacob, a programmer working for a high-tech company in Singapore, remains committed to his decision to start a new life outside China despite the challenges of getting the correct type of visa and avoiding capital flight regulations. It exists.
Jacob, who asked that his surname not be published out of respect for his family back home, worked as a software engineer for a major Chinese internet company, which allowed him to buy a car and an apartment complex without relying on loans.
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But Xi's crackdown on the tech industry in 2020 has made that luxury a thing of the past for many Chinese, with tens of thousands of jobs lost.
Jacob's decision to emigrate was not just economic. He didn't want his daughter to attend a compulsory course on party ideology, which preached the importance of loyalty to the Communist Party. "The tide had turned. The middle-class life I enjoyed in China is in danger."
Wealthy and middle class flee China - Immigrants are changing the world's landscape and causing tensions 19 January 2024
https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2024-01-19/S7FIRBT1UM0W00
