Does China Matter to the Chinese Overseas? A Case Study of Malaysian Chinese Businesses

Do businesses owned or operated by the Chinese diaspora engage more with China than businesses owned by non-ethnic Chinese? To answer this question, ethnic Chinese owned companies listed on the Malaysian stock exchange were compared with non-Chinese owned/controlled on the extent of their business in China. Of some 800 listed companies as of December 2017, 547 or 68% are Malaysian Chinese companies. Of the latter, some 18.4%, conduct business in China compared to just 8.5% among the non-ethnic Chinese listed companies. This finding needs to be qualified first, by the fact that the companies’ presence in China may not represent a major portion of their business. As some firms do not separate their China- from other Asian businesses, the extent of China engagement is likely to be underestimated. Second, while economic motives were responsible for their presence in China, “cultural citizenship” and family business patriarchs being first or second generations could help explain their affinity to China.