The strength of the diasporas

Although they often respond to the need to leave in search of better economic opportunities, in a globalized world (and despite the supposed deglobalization) diasporas contribute to the geopolitical strength of the countries of origin, in addition to providing significant income through the remittances (close to 800,000 million dollars in 2022, with India, Mexico and China in the lead). They have become an important piece and, for this reason, the regimes of several of these States try to control them more and more. They also try, at the same time, to train and limit the brain drain that is taking place towards the countries with the most technological development, where there is a lack of talent in sufficient number and quality, which also needs those of origin.

The paradigmatic case is China. HE calculate that there are some 50 or 60 million people of Chinese nationality (10.7 million) or origin (including Taiwanese) outside the country, whose origins go back to the ancient Silk Road. Today, the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia are destinations with a large presence of Chinese communities. Sometimes not without problems. For example, in Malaysia, where (as in other countries in the area) ethnic Chinese control a good part of the economic sector and have different ways and customs from those of the Muslim majorities. In 1969 there were still not forgotten anti-Chinese riots in Malaysia, with important outbreaks later. In Spain, in 2020 there were some 215,000 people of Chinese nationality registered in the census.

The Chinese regime has understood the importance of this diaspora and tries to control it more and more. A few weeks ago two men were arrested on charges of helping to set up a post police secret in New York on behalf of the Chinese government. Three dozen Chinese national police officers have been charged with using social media to harass dissidents inside the United States. Beijing is also trying to control the many Chinese students who travel abroad, especially to the US – now with increasing difficulties – to further their studies. The Chinese ambassador in Washington, Xie Feng, has written a letter to Chinese students in the country asking them to support the Chinese Communist Party, and “tell the story of China well”; that is, the official one.

according to some informations, tens of thousands of Chinese students pledge allegiance to the regime before traveling abroad. Almost all of them return –there is loyalty to a regime that has helped them study abroad–, although lately with more fear to have the contents of their mobile phones and computers examined by the authorities on their return. It is significant that in 2021-22 there were about 290,000 Chinese international students in the US – the largest number of foreigners – and less than 2,500 American students in China (in 2020, up from nearly 15,000 ten years earlier). Such a disproportion generates an imbalance in mutual knowledge. Diasporas also contribute to intimate knowledge of countries and their cultures.

Almost all Chinese abroad communicate with their family and friends in China, and with each other, through the WeChat app (similar to but more powerful than WhatsApp). After the restrictions imposed on TikTok in the US, it is now studying to also ban WeChat, something that has not been decided precisely because it does not deprive them of this advanced communication system (and much more).

It is true that Westerners also have their diasporas, which constitute lobbies, but they are not so organized past the time of the empires, especially the Spanish in Latin America, and the British, particularly in India, the former “jewel in the crown”. He Federal Voting Assistance Program estimated in 2018 that 4.8 million American civilians lived abroad, plus 1.2 million military (with a thousand bases and facilities in the world, with their officials).

The Lebanese are few, but they have a very influential diaspora, particularly in Latin America, as Amin Maalouf recounted with literary mastery in origins (2004). The Jews maintain dense networks of support and influence, although not all agree with the State of Israel, especially the current one. The Jews could be considered a very different case. They are diasporas originating from other countries, not from the State of Israel. There are also international religious networks, but they are not properly diasporas.

In Spain there are 872,000 Moroccans or Spaniards of Moroccan origin, the largest foreign group (followed by Romanians, the fifth diaspora in the world). The Moroccan authorities exercise significant control over them, directly or through the imams they send, and their excellent secret services. According to a CNI note whose content has been filtered outthe General Directorate of Studies and Documentation (DGED), Morocco’s foreign secret service, tried to mobilize them in May 2021 against the Spanish government’s decision to “host” Brahim Ghali, the Polisario leader, who was ill.

There have always been Indians outside of India, in much of Asia, and in Africa, who constitute important trade and economic networks. It should be remembered that Mahatma Gandhi, Hindu, maker of independent India, worked for several years, between the 19th and 20th centuries, as a lawyer in South Africa, defending the rights of the tens of thousands of Indians or people of Indian origin who inhabited over there. The Indian diaspora contributed to the national movement, to the independence of India and now contributes to the transformation of the country-civilization into a global power.

The Indian state differs between Overseas Indians, officially Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), and People of Indian Origin (PIOs), residing in or originating from outside of India. According to a report by the Ministry of External Affairs, there are 32 million NRIs and PIOs outside of India. Overseas Indians make up the largest diaspora in the world, settled in the US first, and then in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Every year 2.5 million Indians emigrate abroad, the largest number in the world. The diaspora contributes some 80,000 million dollars directly and much more indirectly to the Indian economy, 43% of the country’s trade deficit in 2018. India is behind the Organization for Diaspora Initiatives (ODI), which is headquartered in New Delhi, with antennas and offices in various countries. The ODI attempts to understand the various diasporas by comparing and contrasting their experiences, and encourages ideas such as the role of the diaspora in the rise of ‘global India’. It is not only the most populous country on earth since this year, according to the UN, but also important managers of Silicon Valley are of Indian origin, such as Sundar Pichai, from Alphabet, Satya Nadella, from Microsoft, Arvind Krishnade IBM or Sanjay Mehrotra from Micron Technology. Not forgetting the current British Conservative Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.

Other examples of diasporas could be cited such as the Turks, of which there are between three and seven million in Germany, many with the right to vote, or in their state of origin, as seen in the recent elections in Turkey.

A few years ago, Yale University professor Amy Chua, in her book the world on fire (2002), considered that together with the importance of the diasporas that had grown with globalization, the hatred and rejection they generated among the host populations had also increased, such as the aforementioned case of the Chinese in Southeast Asia, or the various cases in the West, and especially in Europe, including the United Kingdom of Brexit, where rejection is increasing not only of European immigration, but also of immigration from the former territories of the British Empire, which until now were an exception . In any case, the diasporas are becoming a new power factor of global reach, also for the competition that is growing, and that could mark the world order in the second half of this century between China and India.