A suggestion that ethnic Chinese can influence world events by pooling their multi-billion dollars in assets to form a so-called "third China" is a myth, said Filipino Chinese community leader Teresita Ang See.

Propagating the myth would only endanger minority Chinese communities from the majority in their respective countries, she told more than 200 delegates at the first global conference on the Chinese diaspora.

"Some researchers and writers, Chinese and non-Chinese included, try to propagate the idea that the world's overseas Chinese possess among them US$300 billion in capital and US$500 billion in gross national product," she said.

"Viewing overseas Chinese capital together as a homogeneous entity is in fact an affront to the private rights of overseas Chinese to own their capital and make their own decisions about such capital and their disposition.

"This affront could only throw doubts as to the loyalty of the overseas Chinese and deliberately or unwittingly, such thinking would create an image of the overseas Chinese as a potential threat."

Ang See noted that ethnic Chinese taipans were themselves competitors in many countries.

Most ethnic Chinese, especially those born locally, identify closely with the interests and concerns of their own countries rather than conciously identifying with being Chinese, she said.

"My conclusion stresses the fact that the ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia are Singaporeans, Malaysians, Filipinos, Indonesians, Thais, etc. first of all, before they are Chinese."

Despite efforts to reach out to their kin and business partners in other parts of the world, "this has not resulted into a powerful global force that some sectors wish to propagate," she added without identifying the sectors.

The two-day conference, the first of its kind to go beyond Chinese clan organisations and groupings by dialect, was called to discuss the status of Chinese minority groups in countries such as predominantly Muslim Indonesia.

It is also aimed at forging closer ties in an increasingly globalised world, organisers said.

"Chinese organisations have never had such kind of good opportunity to get together," said Eddie Lembong, chairman of the Chinese Indonesian Association.

"We have quickly learned that we have the same aspirations but we are also different in many aspects. So it is useful always to communicate," he said.

Indonesian delegate Benny Setiono recalled the racially inspired violence against ethnic Chinese in Indonesia in May 1998.

But he said conditions have since improved under President Abdurrahman Wahid, who signed a decree allowing the open celebration of Chinese traditions and religious rituals, among others.

"We should make use of these favourable conditions to settle the 'Chinese question' so that our grandchildren need not experience the same tragedies we did in the past," he said.

There are an estimated 30-35 million people of Chinese descent dispersed around the world outside mainland China, with 80 percent settling in Southeast Asia.

The Philippines' Ang See said such a large number of Chinese should be used to promote cooperation within the region "and not just cooperation among the Southeast Asian Chinese themselves."