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This argument supports Skinner’s paradigm and counters Chan and Tong’s (1992) findings. In addition, it explores how the Chinese government helped ameliorate the plight of the Chinese minority in Thailand over the past century and how the Thai government responded to this.
Even though these scholars discuss how the differences in religion can affect assimilation, their approach does not compare the experience between the Chinese, who are predominantly Buddhist, with the Muslim minority in Thailand. This book, is, therefore, the first to demonstrate the uniqueness of the Chinese assimilation experience by contrasting the assimilation experience between the Chinese and the Thai-Muslims, thereby introducing a new analytical concept to overseas Chinese studies. Additionally, the book comments on how Chinese language newspapers and publications affect the assimilation process. Neither Skinner nor Chan and Tong have examined this variable.
Furthermore, this study finds that in today’s Thailand, fourth generation Chinese do not exist. The history of the oscillating relationship between Thailand and China has driven the Thai government to issue domestic policies and regulations aimed at new Chinese emigrants who have constituted the Chinese community in the Kingdom, and which on different occasions have prompted them to assimilate into Thai society, voluntarily or through force. These policies have in fact been implemented by Thai leaders who have Chinese ancestors but have come to identify themselves as Thai.
This study also provides further support for scholars who argue that the combination of Thai government policies towards the Chinese have facilitated Chinese assimilation in Thailand. Historically, when good relations prevail between two governments, the host country will generally treat the overseas community well, and the reverse will occur if relations are poor. Surprisingly, this has not always been the case in Southeast Asia. For example, Indonesia was the first country in the region to engage in amicable diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) beginning in the 1950s, but it maintained a more discriminatory policy towards the ethnic Chinese than Thailand did.