The Post-1990s Transnational Migrations Among China, Korea and Japan: Implications for the Future of Northeast Asia

Abstract

International migration trends have changed greatly since the late 1980s, and transnational migrations within the Asia-Pacific region have increased remarkably. The three Northeast Asian countries of China, Japan, and Korea have exchanged a large number of migrants among them. Over 1 million PRC citizens (including a half million Chaoxianzu) are in South Korea today, while an even larger number of South Koreans are living in China. Meanwhile, 700,000 Chinese migrants are in Japan, surpassing Koreans as the largest ethnic minority in Japan. There are also millions of Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists visiting each other’s countries. In addition, there has been growing student and tourist exchanges among the three countries. With such large-scale human exchanges among the countries, there is also extensive trading of popular cultural products. Japanese pop culture products have been popular among the young peoples of China and Korea already for many decades, while Korean pop culture has recently enjoyed high popularity in its neighbouring countries. Such large-scale people and cultural exchanges among these three countries are truly unprecedented in history. Direct interactions among peoples of different countries may not automatically improve mutual understandings. However, there is no doubt that such direct contacts and cultural exchanges among the peoples of China, Japan, and Korea will have substantial impacts on the conventional perceptions among the peoples of the three countries. This paper explores the implications of the ever-increasing transnational migrations between China, Japan, and Korea and its impacts on the future of international relations in Northeast Asia.