The suppression of Chinese schools and cultural expression, most extreme in military-ruled Indonesia and Burma, and the ASEAN countries break in relations with Mao's China, had made the national language was of diminishing utility. Later, China's opening and economic rise in the 1990s ensured that it became the leading tread partner of Southeast Asia and a significant investor. "Chinese-ness" largely ceased to be seen as a challenge to Southeast Asian nationalisms, especially as rediscovered by the local-born majority who had no ties to the People's Replublic.