Social Relays of China’s Power Projection? Overseas Chinese Collective Actions for Security in France

Once known as a silent and even a model minority, hardworking and keeping a low profile, the Chinese community in Paris, one of the largest Chinese diasporic population in Europe, has organized several massive demonstrations since 2010 to demand police protection amid mounting security concerns. Based on qualitative methods combining ethnographic research, media analysis, observation of the collective actions, and interviews of key actors involved, this article analyses the evolution of these mobilizations and their aftermath, on a span of eight years from June 2010 to July 2018, aiming to comprehend the role of China’s influence diplomacy in regard to the actions of overseas Chinese for security. There hasn’t been any study on the role that overseas Chinese might play in China’s foreign policy towards Europe.