ABSTRACT
The Chinese played a very important role in the economy of South-East Asia during the colonial era. Chinese economic operation was basically complementary to the colonial economic system. Capital growth gave rise to banking service during the first three decades of this century. Politics and economics intertwine, and our focus is on the political factors as they affected the development of Chinese banking. Localization in banking in South-East Asia has been programmed in various ways: in the form of nationalization, indigenization, or decolonization. In South Vietnam, before the communists took over in 1975, there were some attempts imposed by government to reverse the favourable position of the Chinese in various business fields, especially in rice crops and import-export trades with other major cities in the region. Three different ways of dealing with Chinese banking have resulted in few different Impacts on national economic development.
