It is his affiliation to Burma, his birthplace, a country he left while still a child and which he has not seen since.

It was a traumatic parting. His American, surgeon father was running a hospital near the China-Burma border when civil war broke out following the withdrawal of the British colonial forces there.

A 10-year-old then and capable of speaking Burmese, some Thai and the Chinese Yunnan dialect, Seagrave was sent off to the United States together with his four other siblings.

Seven generations of the Seagraves had been in Burma, the first landing there as missionaries. Their family members were ousted from the country, however, in the 60s, by the totalitarian military regime.

Although he was already away at that time, Seagrave feels much bitterness for the government's move and considers himself an exile even today.

At one stage, he was involved in a rebel movement against 'his' country.

He is determined not to return to Burma until democracy is in place.

As Seagrave's works show, he bears strong feelings for the region. 'I have been in love with Asia since childhood,' he said.

All along, his other passion lay in writing. But he never managed to finish his university education.

After a stint at the University of Miami, he carried on with his studies in Mexico, then Venezuela, dropping out each time.

'I wrote when I was 19, 20 years old, but I could not get enough interest from publishers to have my books printed,' he said.

'I started reading books from my father's library when I was a little boy.

'By the time I was 12, 13, I was fascinated by novels.' Time throughout his sea journey to the US from Burma was mostly taken up with reading.

The same happened on his trip to India as a refugee when the Japanese attacked Burma in 1942.

Now 58, he has spent most of his life as a drifter, venturing into Cuba in the mid-50s. There he went into journalism out of desperation, he said.

For 10 years, he freelanced for newspapers such as the Washington Post and the Pittsburgh Press. There were stints in Malaysia, Thailand, all over Asia in fact, except Burma. His first wife was Burmese.

It was his writing career that had the most impact on his life. His best-selling Soong Dynasty, published in 1983, won him international acclaim as a writer, but also caused him to go into hiding.

By exposing his strong links with a gangsters' syndicate, the Green Gang and corruption in the Nationalists' Government, he shattered the image of former Kuomintang (KMT) leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and his wife, Soong Mei-ling.

Fearing vengeance for his own work, Seagrave moved to Canada with his two children from his first marriage (to the Burmese), shunning public appearances, not to mention autograph sessions in bookstores, for the next few years.

He has not visited Taiwan since the 70s.

Today, he is still reluctant to make known his whereabouts with his present wife, Peggy, whom he married 15 years ago in the US.

During our interview, he requested: 'Please only write that we are now staying near the Mediterranean.

'There might be people with long memories who would like to get vengeance on me for what I wrote about the Marcos' or the Soongs.

'I need to be more cautious when travelling in Asia.' He places educational value on his latest work, Lords of the Rim (Transworld) - an account of the spread of overseas Chinese and the rise of powerful Chinese figures in Asian countries.

Obviously a man who takes his work seriously, Seagrave reacts strongly to allegations of errors or inaccuracies in his earlier works such as his Marcos Dynasty, dismissing the claims as 'sweeping statements'.

'I spent years combing through records, comparing them, and sorting out which was true, which was probably true,' he said.

His latest book is no exception. His wife, a former writer/editor at Time Life Books in Washington, is his crucial co-worker, putting together information provided by research assistants they hire in different countries.

The couple travelled widely in Asia and Europe over the past decade and devoted five to six years on research to their latest joint effort. 'I made 17 different drafts,' noted Seagrave.

The Chinese mentioned in his book are mostly powerful figures in countries across the Pacific Rim, from business leaders in Thailand and Indonesia with longstanding ties with officials in power there, to self-made billionaires from Hong Kong such as Li Ka-shing and Y. T. Cheng.

Detailed personal histories of the influential figures are lacking in the 338-page book, which, nevertheless, represents an ambitious and rarely-made attempt.

'I did it because such a book did not exist.' Seagrave says he could have put in many more details, but opted to keep it short in order to make it more digestible to the reader.

'My prime concern is people who know zero about China or Asia,' he said. 'Nothing is going to be perfect.' He laughed: 'Every time I took my manuscript to my publisher, he would weigh it in his hands, and say 'this is too long.' ' The section of Lords of the Rim on Hong Kong immigrants in recent years reflects Seagrave's faith in the continuing influence the Chinese have overseas.

They have begun to breathe new life into the US, he writes.

Once-drowsy Vancouver, the most popular destination for them, is benefitting from new developments, thanks to money from affluent Hong Kong Chinese, part of what he calls the 'new-wave immigrants'.

It is not only the new-found home of many, but a strategic base for prominent business people like Li Ka-shing and Stanley Ho. Seagrave has a very open attitude towards immigration, with the idealistic view that 'the more people mix together, the less tribal divisions there are, the better the world will be'.

The only one in his family to have kept such a strong emotional attachment to the Asian region throughout his life, he is deeply satisfied to have gone into writing.

Given his unusual past and deep personal interest, aspirations are easily forthcoming.

'I will keep my eyes open for exciting new subjects about China,' he said.

'I only lived a few miles away from the Chinese border when I was a child.

'I am astonished to see how much better living conditions in China have become than under the KMT.'