东南亚华侨华人的人口占东南亚总人口的6%。华商实行以人为本的企业管理模式，中西结合、与时俱进、国际化和多元化的经营方式，不但形成了强大的经济软实力，其综合经济实力也达到了中等地区强国的水平。对新加坡、马来西亚、印度尼西亚、越南、泰国等国的华人参政状况进行研究发现，其经济实力有助于政治和社会地位的提升，对当地社会产生某种影响力。在近30年来中国与东南亚友好关系的发展中，华商成为中国改善与东南亚政治与外交关系的管道和动力之一，为中国与东南亚友好关系的发展作出了可圈可点的贡献。
Through the people-oriented model of business management，the combination of Chinese and Western and the updated，international and diversified operation，the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia accounting for 6% of the total population in Southeast Asia，not only formed a greater economic soft power，its comprehensive economic strength had reached a level of moderate regional power. From the study of overseas Chinese’s political participation in Singapore，Malaysia，Indonesia，Vietnam，Thailand and other countries，their economic strength were good for the improvement of political and social status，and had some kind of influence on the local society. In the nearly 30 year’s development of friendly relations between China and Southeast Asia，the overseas Chinese had made a remarkable contribution to it.
