Xu says he and his immigrant friends all believe Filipinos are generally friendly and the Chinese in the country rarely ever feel like outcasts.

What’s driving Indonesian paranoia over Chinese workers?

But last month he had the shock of his life when he walked out of a restaurant in Manila’s Chinatown, in Binondo district, and saw five Filipinos on motorbikes all pointing guns at him and two friends.

“I didn’t know if they wanted to kidnap me or rob me,” Xu, now 39, says. “My friend was forced to the ground and one of the robbers was pointing a gun to his head. They took my stuff and left. We started yelling but they fired a shot in the air and warned us not to follow. I was scared.”

Xu says he might have been robbed because Filipinos tend to think the Chinese are well off. It is a perception not always rooted in reality but it persists, not just in the Philippines but also elsewhere in the region.

Many Chinese flooded the region in the wake of their nation’s communist revolution of 1949, bringing with them new vigour but also issues of absorption for their host countries.

In recent decades, as China grew richer and its companies eager for overseas markets, fresh waves of workers and investors have ventured to Nanyang, the Chinese reference to Southeast Asian lands. Various communities have had to adapt to having them in their midst, some fearing they take away jobs and crowd out locals in the competition for real estate, amenities and school places, even as their presence helps the economy grow.

Indonesian-Chinese in Taiwan recall how lives changed after the 1998 riots

But among these countries, it is perhaps the Philippines that has felt the heavy presence of Chinese workers the most in recent years. The government is currently finalising new rules to crack down on illegal workers, but doubts linger about the difference the measures will make.

“The problem here is that there is a lot of corruption at the Department of Labour and Employment, and also the Bureau of Immigration. If illegal Chinese workers pay off the immigration officers and the department of labour, if you multiply that by, say, 100,000 to 200,000, that’s a lot of money,” says Pilo Hilbay, a former solicitor general.

MONEY AND MURDER

When Xu was a teenager, his parents ran an underwear shop in Fujian. Some of their biggest customers were Filipino Chinese traders who bought garments in bulk and sold them on in the Philippines. It was this that eventually prompted the family to embark on their Philippine adventure, and in 1997 Xu visited the country for the first time to scout out opportunities. Two years later their decision had been made, and Xu’s father completed the paperwork to emigrate, bringing the rest of the family as dependants.

Their early days there were rough. They had no language skills in either Tagalog or English, and Xu says the authorities frequently shut down businesses in Chinatown, partly because many were evading taxes. He found himself in a police station on more than one occasion.

Chinese Indonesians fear attacks as anti-China hoaxes spread online

“I would get in there and everyone arrested would be Chinese. I was scared. I was so young at the time,” he says.

Now the owner of a range of businesses offering services from rice imports to printing, Xu believes Chinese immigrants must adjust and integrate into the local culture, which he says includes small but significant idiosyncrasies such as the tendency for Filipinos to dislike Chinese bosses disciplining staff in front of other workers.

Fellow immigrant Ken Hong, 43 and also from Fujian, has done almost every job imaginable since he arrived in Manila nine years ago. He went house to house selling curtains. He cooked up lunchboxes at home to sell to friends. Surviving in a strange city has not been easy for newcomers like him.

“I came here empty-handed. A good friend told me to come. I did not want to at first but eventually did. I felt there might be more opportunities here,” says Hong, who is now a restaurant boss.

Another catering entrepreneur, Tony Gan, knows Chinatown like the back of his hand after living in the area for 36 years. The composition of the Chinese community in Manila has changed for the worse in recent times, Gan believes.

Gangsters and loan sharks have infiltrated local businesses, lending cash to casino punters at sky-high interest rates, sparking social ills. Gan says he has a friend whose son four years ago borrowed 2 million yuan to 3 million yuan (US$290,000 to US$430,000) from Chinese underground lenders, who then demanded repayment of 5 million yuan. Unable to meet the gangsters’ demands, the young man was murdered and his body dumped in a river.

Academic Leo Suryadinata, a senior visiting fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, says early Chinese migrants to Southeast Asia were usually poor with little education.

Singapore crackdown on sex trade, booze, gambling driving out Chinese

“Many maritime Southeast Asian states were ‘indigenous states’ and were less open to migrants, especially Chinese migrants. But in the age of globalisation, it is impossible to halt migration,” he says.

That resistance has remained but is now targeted at a new type of migrant – one with a different culture that has emerged from a changing China.

“Some of the local population, often also including the Southeast Asian Chinese, feel rather resentful towards new migrants. Apparently, this is not only due to the economic competition but also the different culture they bring,” Suryadinata says.

China’s state-owned or state-linked firms have begun branching out overseas, armed with cash and the confidence born of an ascendant nation. They have brought with them Chinese workers who sometimes rub locals the wrong way or create the perception they are stealing jobs and not sharing the fruits of prosperity with the community.

GAMBLER’S PARADISE

About 12,000 foreign nationals are working without the required permit for Philippine gaming operators serving overseas gamblers, the country’s labour department said last month. It is believed many of these unofficial employees are Chinese since the punters are often their countrymen seeking a way round gambling restrictions at home. Betting is illegal in mainland China, with the exception of state-run lotteries.

The new employment rules proposed by the Philippine government state foreign workers must obtain a tax identification number before securing permission to take a job.

Chinese entrepreneurs say work permits are currently easy to obtain even for semi-skilled positions such as chefs. But the business owners also insist they mostly hire locals because these applicants accept lower wages.

Adverts for positions in online gaming companies are readily visible on social media despite the government’s crackdown. One recruiter says his company offers a monthly wage of 6,000 yuan plus a bonus and benefits, with a raise of 500 yuan every month. Such salaries can be enticing compared with employment in mainland China, where the average urban wage in the private sector was 3,813 yuan in 2017, according to official statistics.

Another employment agent says jobseekers enter the Philippines on tourist visas before their companies secure them work permits. Women from China often become dealers for gamblers on live-streaming platforms. Others work as customer service officers, helping these gamers with any queries.

Chinese gang threatens chaos in Cambodian province as rift deepens

They are frequently lured abroad by pictures of spacious dormitories, gyms and swimming pools, but in reality many workers complain of having passports confiscated and being crammed into tiny bedrooms.

Ex-solicitor general Hilbay says he knows of one commercial building in Manila containing accommodation stacked with Chinese workers.

“I asked the security guard, how many Chinese are working here? He replied that more than half of the floors were occupied by Chinese workers,” Hilbay says. “They are brought in by van. The security guard did not know what they did there.”

Other Filipinos have also shared stories of seeing their neighbourhoods and shopping districts flooded with new arrivals. Stores in major malls have started taking payments via WeChat Pay and Alipay, the two dominant types of digital transactions in China.

Philippine immigration laws must ensure every foreign worker coming to the Philippines is properly scrutinised, Hilbay says. He proposes migrants be made to obtain work permits before coming.

“The mindset of the president is to not do anything about it,” Hilbay says.

Why are ethnic Chinese leaving South Korea in their thousands?

“If these new rules are to be adopted, strict compliance is important as there will be more opportunities for corruption when regulatory pressures are brought down in this lucrative business,” he says.

Law enforcers and local governments sometimes “even lay down the red carpet” for firms hiring foreign workers, he adds. “Filipinos are uneasy and even angry that foreigners have taken over their jobs, public spaces and even social services that should have been given to them.”

REWARDS AMID RACISM

According to Luis Corral, vice-president of the Associated Labour Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, the Chinese ambassador in Manila, Zhao Jianhua, told unionists this year that Filipinos sometimes displayed a racist attitude towards Chinese workers.

But the labour leader adds that the issue is not racism but about ensuring the rights of Filipinos. Unemployment and underemployment rates are high in the country, which means foreign workers are unnecessary in some industries such as construction, Corral says.

What do Filipinos have against Chinese Filipinos? Meet the Tsinoys

He estimates between 5,000 and 15,000 Chinese construction workers are toiling away in Manila at jobs Filipinos are more than capable of undertaking. Authorities should restrict immigrants to certain positions using a clearly defined list, the unionist insists.

However, the opposing commercial pressures on the government from businesses eyeing profits are fierce. Lester Yupingkun, managing director of Strongbond Products Philippines, which provides structural repairs and retrofitting services, says the firm’s gross revenue rose by 33 per cent last year compared with 2017’s figure, largely on the back of projects serving the online gambling industry.

“I personally find it unfortunate that the mood surrounding the arrival of these Chinese immigrant workers leans more towards fear rather than opportunity. These workers do not necessarily represent the more selfish interests of the Chinese government,” he says.

“It is ironic because Filipino immigrant workers became the backbone of our own economy. Why deny the Chinese the same privilege offered to our compatriots abroad?”

A new breed of Chinese tourist emerges: meet the FITs

About 2.3 million of the Philippines’ population of 100 million work overseas, many as domestic workers, and the money they send home is a vital source of income for the domestic economy.

PROSPERITY AND PAIN

Professor Maria Ela Atienza, from the political science department at the University of the Philippines Diliman, believes Filipinos are generally tolerant and welcoming of immigrants, as a multicultural nation in which many households have a member of the family overseas.

“Filipinos of Chinese descent mingle or have assimilated well with the rest of the population. However, Filipinos nowadays are wary of Chinese from mainland China because there have been instances where they have violated laws such as anti-smoking and anti-littering regulations,” she says. “In surveys, anti-Chinese sentiment is rising, especially if they are here illegally and not paying taxes.”

‘Victimised for being Chinese’: the hard lives of South Korea’s Joseon-jok

Authorities started out tolerant of the Chinese influx, she says, but have since come under pressure to act.

“When Filipinos got angry, government agencies started to respond more strongly. However, we are not sure if this stricter policy will continue.”

Dr Parag Khanna, author of new book The Future is Asian, says the two-way flow of people between China and Southeast Asia has been mutually beneficial.

“There have been centuries of trading relations among merchants across the South China Sea, and today most Asean countries have China as their largest trading partner,” he says, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In Cambodia, the government has launched an investigation into the employment status of Chinese migrants running businesses in Sihanoukville. Of the 210,000 Chinese nationals living in the country, 78,000 live in the town, according to official figures. But only 20,000 hold a work permit.

Chinese workers ‘flood’ Philippines, yet Duterte’s men ‘don’t know’ how many

Last month Cambodian police revealed the Chinese had been the country’s top perpetrators of crime in the first quarter of 2019. Of 341 foreigners arrested, 241 were from China, followed by 49 Vietnamese nationals and 26 Thais.

The Middle Kingdom has been both a source of prosperity and pain for its Southeast Asian neighbours, with a history of immigration spanning centuries. As many in the region look to China to be the economic motor behind this much touted “Asian century”, signs are the Chinese will keep coming. ■