From Chennai Centre for China Studies website:
A comparative study of Indian and Chinese communities in Southeast Asia is yet to be undertaken by scholars specializing in Southeast Asian Studies. A perusal of the bibliography on the subject shows that there is hardly any creative work in this fascinating area. However, there are number of scholarly works analyzing the problems of Chinese and Indian communities in the region as a whole, as well as in individual countries.
The comparative perspective is relevant for two reasons. Lying to the east of India and south of China, the countries of Southeast Asia are extremely important from the foreign policy perspectives of these two Asian giants. The issue is of crucial importance because China’s bilateral relations and, to a lesser extent, India’s relations with Southeast Asian countries are rendered complex by the presence of Chinese and Indian minority groups in these countries. Equally significant is the fact that both China and India are trying to attract the considerable reservoir of capital possessed by these two communities for their economic development. [Full Text]
V. Suryanarayan is Director and Senior Professor (Retd.) at Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Madras.
