China's open moves to tap overseas Chinese influence

AS TAIWAN'S January presidential election approaches, Beijing is stepping up its effort to undermine incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to favour Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang (KMT), who is generally described as Beijing- friendly.

Much attention has focused on China's successful stripping away of Taiwan's diplomatic allies, with seven having defected during Ms Tsai's tenure - two in the last month - leaving only 15 governments in the world that still have diplomatic relations with Taipei.

But, with much less notice, China has also been quietly strengthening its influence with a significant global community, many of whose members used to support Taiwan - the millions of overseas Chinese around the world.