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In The Ripple Effect, Enze Han argues that a focus on the Chinese state alone is not sufficient for a comprehensive understanding of China's influence in Southeast Asia. Instead, we must look beyond the Chinese state, to non-state actors from China, such as private businesses and Chinese migrants. These actors affect people's perception of China in a variety of ways, and they often have wide-ranging as well as long-lasting effects on bilateral relations. Han proposes that to understand this increasingly globalized China, we need more conceptual flexibility regarding which Chinese actors are important to China's relations, and how they wield this influence, whether intentional or not.

In 'The Ripple Effect', Enze Han argues that a focus on the Chinese state alone is not sufficient for a comprehensive understanding of China's influence in Southeast Asia. Instead, we must look beyond the Chinese state, to non-state actors from China, such as private businesses and Chinese migrants. These actors affect people's perception of China in a variety of ways, and they often have wide-ranging as well as long-lasting effects on bilateral relations. Han proposes that to understand this increasingly globalized China, we need more conceptual flexibility regarding which Chinese actors are important to China's relations, and how they wield this influence, whether intentional or not.

International relations scholarship and the popular media tend to portray China as a great power with hegemonic designs for Southeast Asia. Moreover, studies on Chinese influence in Southeast Asia predominantly focus on the Chinese state. This paper argues that Chinese non-state actors and their daily encounters with local communities in Southeast Asia deserve equal attention as these interactions evidently produce friction at both the society-to-state and state-to-state level. The influence of Chinese non-state actors in Southeast Asia can be illustrated with three examples, namely, Chinese tourism operations in Thailand, Chinese market demand and agricultural transformations in Myanmar, and Chinese gangs within the casino economy in Cambodia. Thailand has recently become a top tourist destination for Chinese nationals. This has cultural implications as those involved in the tourism industry need to have Chinese language skills. The economic implications include increased competition and decreased accountability as Chinese tour companies have set up in Thailand using Thai locals as nominees. Bilateral relations also soured after a boat carrying Chinese tourists capsized in Thailand. As global prices of corn rose in 2011 and 2012, areas in Myanmar close to the Chinese border have increased corn cultivation to meet Chinese demands for that crop. This has led to deforestation in these areas. Chinese gangsters fleeing their government's crackdown in China have settled down to operate in the casino economy in Cambodia. Consequentially, there has been a rise in crime rate involving online scams and deteriorating public security. Despite the Chinese government encouraging the Cambodian government to enforce a ban on online gambling, the actions of non-state actors from China continue to be associated with the Chinese state as a whole and there is rising resentment towards the Chinese in Cambodia. The COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily halted cross-border trade between China and mainland Southeast Asia. This has negatively affected local farmers who are dependent on the Chinese market.

'Asymmetrical Neighbors' explains the variations in state building across the borderland area between China, Myanmar, and Thailand. It presents a comparative historical account of the state and nation-building processes in the ethnically diverse and geographically rugged borderland area where China meets Southeast Asia.

'Asymmetrical Neighbors' explains the variations in state building across the borderland area between China, Myanmar, and Thailand. It presents a comparative historical account of the state and nation-building processes in the ethnically diverse and geographically rugged borderland area where China meets Southeast Asia.

Tha author unravels the complexities of national-identity contestation and adaptation among various ethnic minority groups in China, focusing on the interactions between domestic and international forces that inform ethnic groups' national-identity contestation and positing a theoretical framework where international factors play a significant role in determining whether ethnic groups contest the national identities imposed on them. It argues that whether ethnic groups contest those national identities depends on their perceiving a better, achievable alternative

This paper makes a novel contribution by examining the puzzle of one Southeast Asian nation, Myanmar, and its dramatic shift of 'fortune' in its international status and the domestic consequences of that shift during the decade of 2010–2020. It highlights how the country's changing international relations affected its domestic political decision-making process. It puts forth the argument that the amount of international attention the country received since 2011 as the target of competitive courtship between China, United States, and the West in general, and the consequent feeling of being valued as a geostrategic asset, created strong conditions for overconfidence on part of Myanmar's government and military. This favorable international environment also coincided with perceived progress in democratization domestically. Similar to its past patterns of behavior toward ethnic minorities, the Myanmar military and the government overestimated their likelihood of success in dealing with the Rohingya minority while underestimating the likelihood of punishment by the international community. (Pac Rev / GIGA)

This paper discusses the dynamics between Myanmar's peace process, its mismanagement of the Rohingya crisis, and China's strategic interests in Myanmar. It examines how internal ethnic conflicts in Myanmar will transpire and the implications for China's grand strategy of One Belt One Road in the region.

This article examines the process of state consolidation, or its failure, in a state's borderland area with neighboring states in upland Southeast Asia. It proposes that we should conceptualize state consolidation as an interactive process heavily influenced by a "neighborhood effect." It argues that we should look at how state consolidation in one country's borderland area can be influenced by the same process in the neighboring states. In particular, the article probes under what conditions the neighborhood effect of state consolidation might take place. It argues that the effect is more profound in situations where there is power asymmetry between neighboring states, and the extent of such effect is further conditioned upon the nature of relations among these states. Empirically, this article uses a set of comparative case studies Myanmar's modern history of state consolidation in its borderland area to illustrate the proposed theoretical framework. Differentiating between the country's eastern borders with China and Thailand vs. its western borders with Bangladesh and India, the article empirically examines Myanmar's state consolidation processes to illustrate the theoretical framework, focusing on variations of power balance and nature of relations between the country and its neighbors since the end of World War II. (Pac Rev/GIGA)