GLOBAL ECONOMY AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS Vlasenko L. V., Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor Kravets K. O., Student Zaporizhzhya Institute of Economics and Information Technologies Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine EXPANDING THE «BAMBOO NETWORK»: DIASPORA, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURE AS COMPONENTS OF PRC’S EXTERNAL TRADE POLICY For the past decade, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has established itself as an economic powerhouse and a regional geopolitical power in Asia. In 2018 Chinese manufacturers are dominating the global market with a total exports of 2.5 trillion US$; PRC’s GDP is growing with an average rate of 6.6% and a massive “Belt and Road Initiative” infrastructure and investment project is envisioned and set into motion to create even larger unified market uniting more than 152 countries of Asia, Europe, Oceania, and Americas [1]. China does not lack for ambition planning the BRI on a gargantuan scale, however, while discussing the probability of declared Chinese intentions Western critics often overlook the fact that the backbone and pre-image of this project was already established long before the “The New Silk Road” – the original title of BRI – was set in motion. This already existing part of Asia’s economic reality is often called the “Bamboo Network”. Bamboo Network (BN) – is an economic sphere of influence that links overseas Chinese business communities of Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore) mostly composed of mid-sized companies owned by expat-Chinese with links to the economy of so-called Greater China (PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau). BN is closely tied with the concepts of Sinophone World and Sinosphere (East Asian cultural sphere) [2]. The already established concept of “Bamboo Network” is resonating perfectly with the BRI and the newly adapted rhetoric of Beijing to “make more friends and forge a community of shared destiny in Asia” [3]. In 2018 total trade of PRC with the 7 traditional countries of BN amounted to 577 bln of US$ (12% of PRC global trade or 24% of trade with Asia) [4]. BN indicates the amount of influence and economic cooperation PRC may have 14 over countries where the business environment is at least partly shaped by the ethnic Chinese, meaning that the Chinese diaspora, language, and cultural proximity may serve as an important factor in establishing closer economic (particularly bilateral trade) ties between PRC and its partner countries. The BN is often considered to be a geographic concept bounded in borders of South- Eastern Asia. However, some researchers believe that Australia should either be already considered to be a part of the BN or will be included into it in the nearest future and the Network itself is an outdated concept and will expand far beyond the borders of Asia aiming to draw in any country with a presence of ethnic Chinese businesses [5; 6]. Consequently, it may be possible to estimate the probability of PRC’s trade and economic expansion in certain regions and countries by observing the present status of the Chinese diaspora, the number of people fluent in the Chinese language and the presence of PRC-supported organizations, namely the Confucius institutions. The Confucius Institutes (CI) were established around the world to “promote Chinese language and culture in foreign countries” to meet the “sharp increase in global demand for Chinese language learning” [7]. The official mission of the CI is to promote understanding of China and Chinese culture, to develop friendly relations with other countries, including teaching Chinese, promoting cultural exchange, and assisting in establishing business-ties with China. Education at the CI is focused on the specifics of cooperation with China making them equally important for foreigners and expat-Chinese that lost connection with their homeland. The first Confucius Institute was established in Seoul on November 21, 2004. There is also a practice to establish Confucius classes in regions where infrastructure or local academic support is insufficient to create the proper CI; there are even two Confucius kindergartens in Germany [8]. The CI are a subject of harsh criticism and often considered to be one of the most prominent instruments of Chinese diplomacy and means of advancing PRC’s expansionist policy of “soft power”, including industrial espionage [9]. Whatever the true reason behind the rapid expansion of Confucius institutes, conducted an analysis of trade, migration and language proficiency (table 1) clearly indicates the connection between the presence of the Chinese humanitarian institutions and volumes of the bilateral trade. CI are numerous in countries that pose a significant share of PRC global trade (ROK, Germany) or have a large number of ethnic Chinese residents (UK, Spain), but usually both (USA, Australia, Japan, etc.). It is also worth noticing that only a fraction of ethnic Chinese (with a peculiar exception of Germany) are fluent in their native language and usually communicate in some specific dialect of Chinese (Hakka, Hokkien, Teochew, etc.) that cannot be considered as a significant factor to boost business with the PRC where only Standard Chinese (Mandarin) is recognized as an official language. CI may be an effort of PRC 15 to reintegrate Chinese communities of other countries in the Greater China concept to reestablish language, cultural and subsequently economic ties leading to the expansion of the “Bamboo Network”. Table 1 Relation between bilateral trade, language and diaspora, 2018 Estimated Total trade Number of size of the Confucius Name of people fluent % of Chinese institutes / country in Chinese Bln of PRC diaspora classes (thsd ppl) US$ total (thsd ppl)* trade І. “Bamboo Network” countries Indonesia 8010 300** 7 / 0 77.4 3.24 Malaysia 6541 2415** 4 / 1 109.17 4.57 Myanmar 1054 Insignificant 0 / 3 15.29 0.64 Philippines 1243 0.6 4 / 0 55.71 2.33 Singapore 2808 1791 1 / 2 83.46 3.5 Thailand 7513 112 16 / 11 87.89 3.68 Vietnam 993 Insignificant 1 / 0 148.1 6.21 II. Possible directions of expansion of the “Bamboo Network” Australia 755 878 14 / 6 144.23 3.22 Brazil 252 Insignificant 10 / 3 112.03 2.5 Canada 1511 1290 12 / 0 58.36 1.3 France 442 171 18 / 0 61.31 1.37 Germany 91 257 19 / 2 178.96 4 Italy 202 65 12 / 3 49.92 1.11 Japan 675 Insignificant 15 / 2 329.79 7.37 Rep. of Korea 24 Insignificant 23 / 5 304.9 6.81 Russia 447 71 19 / 4 112.56 2.51 South Africa 110 2 6 / 3 42.94 0.96 Spain 141 47 8 / 0 30.3 0.68 UK 401 331 23 / 3 81.03 1.81 USA 4160 3268 86 / 12 553.1 12.35 * Estimated diaspora in 2011 ** Mandarin and Cantonese only. other dialects of Chinese excluded Source: [1; 4; 10] For the past decade PRC is expanding rapidly both economically and politically, several global infrastructure projects including the “Belt and Road Initiative” may lead to the growth of the so-called “Bamboo Network” – 16 a sphere of Chinese influence concentrating around business and trade. An important marker of Chinese presence is the Confucius Institutions that are opened either in the country with strong economic ties with PRC or with significant Chinese diaspora. To further understand the logic of PRC’s external economic policy it is necessary to consider humanitarian factors such as the size of diaspora, migration, fluency, and proficiency in the Chinese language and existence of family-run Chinese enterprises. References: 1. World Bank. // Available from Internet: http://www.worldbank.org. 2. Weidenbaum. M.L. & Hughes. S. (1996). The bamboo network: How expatriate Chinese entrepreneurs are creating a new economic superpower in Asia. New York: Martin Kessler Books. 3. Miller, T., China’s Asian Dream-Empire Building Along the New Silk Road. London: ZED Books, 2017, pp. 304. 4. ITC. Trade Map // Available from Internet: https://www.trademap.org. 5. Yeung, Henry & Olds, Kris. (2000). Globalising Chinese Business Firms: Where are They Coming from, Where are They Headed? Globalization of Chinese business firms. 6. Hemrit, Maetinee. & Handelshögskolan i Stockholm. (2010). Beyond the bamboo network : the internationalization process of Thai family business groups. Stockholm : Stockholm School of Economics. 7. Hartig F. Chinese public diplomacy: The rise of the Confucius Institute. – Routledge. 2016. 8. Paradise J.F. China and international harmony: The role of Confucius Institutes in bolstering Beijing’s soft power // Asian survey. – 2009. – Т. 49. – №. 4. – С. 647-669. 9. Fabrice de Pierrebourg and Michel Juneau-Katsuya, "Nest of Spies: the starting truth about foreign agents at work within Canada’s borders," HarperCollins Canada, 2009. pp 160–162. 10. Poston. Dudley & Wong. Juyin. (2016). The Chinese diaspora: The current distribution of the overseas Chinese population. Chinese Journal of Sociology. 2. Грущинська Н. М., д.е.н., доцент Навчально-науковий інститут неперервної освіти Національного авіаційного університету м. Київ, Україна ГЛОБАЛЬНЕ ПОТЕПЛІННЯ – ЗАГРОЗА СУСПІЛЬСТВУ МАЙБУТНЬОГО Активізація економічного розвитку, швидкісні темпи зростання спричиняють більше використання енергоресурсів та природних ресурсів загалом. Енергоємність зменшується зі зростанням рівня доходу країни, а 17 View publication stats.