Study of an alliance ending in disenchantment after Pol Pot's visit to Hanoi in 1965 and the start of the war between Cambodia and Vietnam in 1977.

Southeast Asia is a region of eleven different states, each having many different peoples, languages, cultures and religions. However, general ideas, principles or rules which can encompass any one particular example or one country are nevertheless possible. This constant interplay and interaction between the specific and the general, between the local and the regional, between region and nation, between history and current times, is one of the characteristics of Southeast Asia. In taking this background into consideration it is important to distinguish between rule and exception, to trace down recurrent themes in history according to changing circumstances, and to seek possible ways of smoothing tensions or of solving conflicts. This book includes contributions covering about seven Southeast Asian countries: Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam on the mainland, as well as Singapore and Indonesia on the islands. The contributions deal with all three of the important categories of ethnic minorities: the tribal or indigenous populations, the nationalities who live as majority population in neighbouring states, and the so-called 'Foreign Asians'. Furthermore, general questions such as Nationalitätenpolitik and language politics (Sprachenpolitik) are also addressed.

The book is a festschrift, dedicated to Hans Dieter Kubitscheck, the former head of the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at Humboldt University, Berlin. Ten authors representing different academic disciplines (mainly history and ethnology) as well as four different countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos and Burma/Myanmar) discuss the relations between ethnic minorities and the nation state in Southeast Asia in colonial and modern times.

Das Buch behandelt die chinesische Einwanderung und die Nationalitätenpolitik gegenüber den Hoa, vor allem im Süden Vietnams, in der alten Zeit, während der französischen Kolonialzeit sowie in der Periode der Unabhängigkeit bis zum Beginn des gegenwärtigen Reformprozesses. Die wirtschaftliche und politische Entwicklung der Hoa wird vor dem Hintergrund des französischen Kolonialismus sowie des vietnamesischen und chinesischen Nationalismus und Kommunismus untersucht. Dabei werden die Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede zwischen Nord- und Südvietnam, zwischen den Hoa und anderen ethnischen Gruppen in Vietnam sowie zwischen Vietnam und anderen Ländern Südostasiens herausgestellt.