The Chinese diaspora is one obvious factor at work here, but it is not the only one.

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Organised crime in the Middle East, South Asia and the Chinese diaspora has long relied on informal money transfer networks.

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One way to facilitate trade and investment is ethnic ties witness the way the Chinese diaspora has invested in China, or the way Indian-American entrepreneurs have forged links between Silicon Valley and India.

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It will be largely funded by the Chinese and their diaspora, less focused on the West and more on developing countries, including increasingly those outside the traditional stomping grounds of Chinese entrepreneurs.

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But, in the long run, it may well be that the vast and growing diaspora of Chinese entrepreneurs like the Pans that will have the greatest impact.

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