Emerging business transnationalism in Singapore and China: governance, networks, and strategies

Between positionality and nudging: A rising China and Chinese voluntary associations in Southeast Asia

“…Southeast Asian Chinese, as a major economic group in the region, have greatly benefited from China's fast economic development. For instance, Singapore's investment (mostly from Singapore Chinese businesspeople and firms) in China has increased dramatically from US$19 billion in 2003 to US$124 billion in 2022 (Liu and Goh, 2022; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC, 2022). With the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, Southeast Asia has constituted one of the most important regions where the Chinese investment and infrastructure projects have been concentrated on.…”

“…China's development has been warmly embraced by Southeast Asian politicians as a huge opportunity. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told Nikkei Asia in May 2022, one ‘cannot afford not to do business with China’ given the sheer size of opportunities and markets, with China being the ‘biggest trading partner of nearly every country in Asia’ (cited in Liu and Goh, 2022). Speaking in December 2019, the then Malaysian Minister for Transport Loke Siew Fook was convinced that ‘China has a great scope for development, and China's development has significantly helped Southeast Asia and the whole Asia’ ( Nanfang Daily , 2019).…”

“…Since the turn of the twenty‐first century, mutual investment between Southeast Asia and China has dramatically increased (Liang and Zhou, 2023). For instance, by 2019 the number of Singapore enterprises in China and Chinese enterprises in Singapore has reached 24 869 and 7500, respectively (Li, 2019; Liu and Goh, 2022); this has led to the creation of new business associations in both Southeast Asia and China. In Southeast Asia, examples are the China Enterprises Association in Singapore (CEA, est.…”