ABSTRACT

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is one of the world’s leading exporters of population and workforces. If China lost control of migration and the pressures driving people to leave increased, migration could become a detonator of conflicts with regional and global implications. Nevertheless, the way the emigration process has unfolded has thus far given way to another reality. We observe that since the PRC’s ‘opening up’ in 1978, the emigration of Chinese nationals from mainland China and Taiwan has expanded significantly both in terms of the number of migrants and the diversification of destinations they choose, taking in more than 150 countries around the world. This expansion was encouraged – among other things – by the easing of the PRC’s migration laws, the mentioned political opening up and the expansion of the country’s economy towards the outside world. As a result, and in the context of the transformations in the migratory

patterns and behaviour of Chinese migrants in the past three decades, a larger flow of overseas Chinese towards the Mercosur countries has resulted (with the exception of Paraguay, which has yet to establish diplomatic relations with the PRC, but which does have them with Taiwan). These groups are concentrated above all in large urban conglomerations, forming a system of ‘clan networks’, ‘family networks’ and ‘international networks’ that function as ‘spaces of support and containment’ for compatriots living abroad. Clearly differentiated periods of Chinese immigration to each country have

been identified, through which similar patterns of variation have been observed, although each has its own historical specificities. In this sense, and to guide our analysis, we ask the following questions: can migration be seen as a way to develop and strengthen China’s cooperative relations with South American countries? And based on this first question, we ask: is it possible to consider Chinese overseas migration as ‘directed’ migration in this sense? Finally, what role do migrant communities play in the cultural exchange of two regions that in recent years appear to have strengthened their relations? In this chapter we approach migrations from an International Relations

perspective, which allows us to recognize, principally, two issues. On one

hand, for a number of years the evolution of communication and technology encouraged the international movement of people, with the perception that borders have blurred.1 While on the other, when national interests overlap with those of migrants, states ensure national sovereignty prevails, which is expressed (among other ways) in the application of restrictive policies on the admission of migrants. In this sense, states behave ambiguously, as, for certain movements (commercial and financial) they open their borders while for others they close them, approving policies that are both contradictory and discriminatory. All of this was aggravated by the 2007-2008 global financial crisis which brought about a shift in the political, economic and social relations of migration processes between countries of origin and of destination.2