It is intended here to only briefly outline some of the outstanding characteristics of the Chinese as an urban ethnic group, and to assess their economic role in the Lao economy. Throughout the countries of Southeast Asia the Overseas Chinese play a crucial role and in many cases a dominant one in commerce, industry and banking. Since in most cases they constitute a minority of the total population and simultaneously stress their Chinese cultural identity, they pose a critical political problem to the self-conscious national states in this area that have gained their independence from Britain, France and Holland since the end of the Second World War. This problem has been approached innvarious ways by the countries concerned.
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