This year’s Academy Awards was “history-making” as the Best Actress winner Michelle Yeoh said. I watched only bits and pieces of the ceremony but I was moved by the speeches on that night. This year’s Academy Awards was a major recognition for Asian representation on the silver screen. I thought to myself, if only we could spread this recognition for Asians in Hollywood to every facet of our society. After all, everyone has his/her own immigration story in this Land of Opportunity.
Nevertheless, in this Land of Opportunity there are all kinds of vices. One of them is called anger. From the Chinese spy balloon to the TikTok hearing, China becomes the target of anger by the Americans. Hyperdrama outshines substance. If statesmen are empowered to reason and reform, negotiate and compromise for the best interest of people as they claim, I’m bewildered by the weakness of our elected officials and political appointees. They’re expected by their people to resolve conflicts and narrow differences on domestic issues and world affairs. The reality is they’re overpaid and yield little results. The reality is Asians, ethnic Chinese in particular, bear the brunt of paranoia against China. People who look like Chinese or have Chinese heritage could easily become victims of hate crimes. The land of opportunity now becomes the land of conspiracy.
How threatening can China be? I received a flyer recently from a Republican senatorial candidate, on which one item of the agenda was “stop transferring wealth to communist China.” This item is misleading the public. American people have brought so many goods from China to save money. Wealth inequality in the U.S. —and around the world for years—is that the very rich are getting even richer, and the poor are harder to get out of debt. I thought I was back to the early 20th century in the first Red Scare period. If history repeats itself, only the people in each episode of history have changed. If every American has her own immigration story, I’m now seeing the repeated history of a Red Scare unfolding before my eyes in the Land of Opportunity. I bet few American officials and civilians who advocate for a China boycott understand China at all. I’m saddened with tears running in my heart.
I like analyzing characters. If a fictional character thinks China is a threat, my theory is first, this character has unfathomable fear. Fear is a natural and primitive human emotion. It requires high emotional intelligence to quell it. This fictional character apparently falls short of a normal person’s emotional intelligence. Second, she could be ignorant of China. As philosopher Ibn Rushd said succinctly, “Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. This is the equation.” Third, this character may have been a victim of a physical or psychological trauma associated with China or Chinese people; thus, she cannot come to terms with her past.
For instance, if you grow up in a war zone just as devastating as Ukraine today, how can you forgive the invader that turns your homeland into rubbles, your family scattered or dead, and you now a refugee? Last century China has been through much political turmoil before and after Communist took over the government. China was also once invaded by the imperial Japanese army. During that period, the ancestors of today’s Chinese and Taiwanese people fought together against Japanese. And later after the attack on Pearl Harbor, American soldiers joined forces with Chinese armies against Japanese invaders.
If by the judgment of today’s political correctness, will this historical event be labeled as the shame of the US for uniting with China for global peacemaking?
Will the world history follow what the Taiwanese ruling party does to remove China from the history textbooks and misinform the next generation of world citizens about the contribution of Chinese as a huge ethnic population to world peace?
This is my 14th year living in America. I’ve read and listened to too many immigrants’ stories in the Land of Opportunities. Many of them are from Greater China. There have been a great number of Chinese people exiled to America on the grounds of political asylum. Many of them are filled with anger and hatred toward the Chinese leadership. This is not uncommon. America is a hotbed of dissidents. Seldom do I find a happy immigrant story in which the protagonist sings higher praise of her birth country than her adopted homeland—the Land of Opportunity. Simply, if you like your motherland more than America, why did you emigrate? This is why immigrants have their dreams to create and build a new society that is better than their birth country. And yet, this supposedly a new and hopeful society is now facing divergence in last fifteen years.
I cry for those innocent Chinese immigrants who are discriminated against by China haters. But I’m still proud to say I’m ethnic Chinese in front of those who have doubts about China, those who spread conspiracy about a China threat, and those who make personal gains from demonizing China in their brainwashing propaganda.
I’m thankful that I received my higher education in America. American education enables me to understand why native-born American people cherish American exceptionalism. American exceptionalism is the idea that the United States is uniquely virtuous. In other words, America’s values, political system, and history are unique and worthy of universal admiration. Can America still uphold this moral high ground today?
Here are two current affairs that show me otherwise.
1. Hong Kong national anthem saga
It’s not the first time that organizer of international sports events played a protest song instead of China’s national anthem during ceremonies for Hong Kong sports team and for Hong Kong athlete. The latest mishap occurred last month at the ice hockey world championships in Sarajevo. A Cantonese language protest song released in August 2019 has long been mistaken for Hong Kong’s national anthem on Google search. Apparently, there is no human brain involved in fact-checking throughout the web search engine optimization. Since last December, Hong Kong government has pressured Google Inc. to change its search results to display China’s national anthem. The tech giant refused, alleging the company “do not manually manipulate organic web listings to determine the ranking of a specific page.”
Imagine that if this is a TikTok search glitch for glorifying Jan 6 US Capitol riot, can the public accept the same response from Google for TikTok to dodge the Congress grill? After TikTok hearing, Mr. Zuckerberg from Facebook may have smirked at his milder treatment in a Congress grill? Not to mention that Mr. Chew from TikTok is Singaporean and his wife is Taiwanese. While Mr. Chew was facing the music at the U.S. Congress, Tim Cook from Apple Inc. received warm welcome in his China visit. China or the U.S., which is showing off its exceptionalism toward innovation and opportunity?
Does the US Congress expect tech giants to regulate themselves internally on data collection and usage? How much corporate social responsibility from these tech giants do customers buy in? Technology always goes faster than law enforcement. The Congress hearing opened my eyes about how shallow our lawmakers understand the ethical issues in technology beyond ideology and geographic borders. This Congress hearing also highlights the depth of China phobia in Washington. Perhaps all non-China-based tech companies will need a quasi-party secretary-like watchdog on data privacy that can report directly to the US Congress.
We’re on a Red Scare groundhog day. As Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This is the predicament of my Chineseness.
When big tech companies do not end falsehood and conspiracy, and when governments are slow to enforce laws to regulate tech malpractice in general, we human beings are indeed manipulated by our smarter-than-us devices and algorithms. When professional ethics and the four cardinal Platonic virtues—prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice—are missing in our decision making, there will be no distinction between humanity and machines.
“The Wealth of Nations” is often considered the bible of capitalism, but what draws my attention to the author Adam Smith is his another great work before the publication of “The Wealth of Nations.” In his book “The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” Smith defined four virtues—prudence, justice, beneficence and self-command—as this:
“Prudence moderates the individual’s excesses and as such is important for society. It is respectable, if not endearing. Justice limits the harm we do to others. It is essential for the continuation of social life. Beneficence improves social life by prompting us to promote the happiness of others. It cannot be demanded from anyone, but it is always appreciated. And self-command moderates our passions and reins in our destructive actions.”
In my mind, a man’s morality comes before his wealth. So was the sequence of publication of Adam Smith’s two great works. Sadly, today’s American leaders in public service and business seem to have gone the opposite direction of Smith’s four virtues.
2. Avatar in reality
In the movie “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the audience saw an intelligent whale-like species named Tulkun. A whaling vessel led by Captain Mick Scoresby hunted Tulkuns to extract an anti-aging serum. The entire whale hunting operation was like a public-private cooperation. Military forces were on site driving helicopters and vessels. Advanced military technologies were used to hunt Tulkuns. The picture reminded me of the accusation from the US officials for China stealing US technology to supply its military. I can’t say this is not happening but I dare to ask which country in the world does not allow advanced technology first to apply to national defense?
The US, first and foremost, does not easily unveil or commercialize its advanced defense technology. Many space projects at NASA are funded by the federal government, for instance. And yet, the projects are partnered with the US military. The US Space Force is the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. So, can you see how closely the research and development of technology is associated with government?
This comes back to my earlier question about if American exceptionalism is still unwavering. The Chinese military will have the first access to advanced technology. So will the US military. When the US sell arms to Taiwan, isn’t the US also selling indirectly advanced technology to China? Most countries, including the US, do not consider Taiwan a sovereign state. In China’s narrative, Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. Taiwan’s trade with China is far bigger than its trade with the US. Who knows if Taiwan will need to appropriate millions of dollars from China trade to pay US for unwanted weapons?
Not to mention if Taiwan can afford the arms sale given the fact the economy of the island is declining after the ruling party boycotts mainland China, and the climate crisis will first impact self-ruled islands like Taiwan. Water scarcity is aggravating the island which boasts to be Asia’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer. But chipmaking is a thirsty business. The US is already in high debt. Is it the best interest for the American people to defend a resource scarce island?
There are also many immigrant stories in Taiwan as locals can trace their ancestral hometowns in mainland China.
Recently a friend from Arizona asked me about my view on Taiwan Strait tension, I immediately thought of a verse from a most cited Chinese poem by Cao Zhi (曹植). This 2nd century poem read: “本是同根生，相煎何太急？” in Chinese. It means beans and bean stems originated from the same long root, why should rush to boil it? Brothers and sisters should be caring for one another and coexist harmoniously instead of harming one another for personal gains. Well, I didn’t think my friend understood Chinese classics. I told him that in the eyes of Chinese people, the tension is domestic; but in the eyes of the US, the tension is global.
My concern goes to how social media and journalists report the facts, not opinions, about happenings in Taiwan. Sadly, today’s reporters seem to mix their views into facts, and algorithms often pick on the most extreme views of stories. Without professional ethics, any publisher who posts stories online is also the expeditor of false news and conspiracy.
Do you remember I mentioned earlier in my character analysis for why China haters become who they are? One of the possibility is my character may have been a victim of a physical or psychological trauma associated with China or Chinese people. Children and young people, in particular, who have experienced trauma have little space left for learning. When a character refuses to learn and refresh her impression of old knowledge, misconception brings about miscommunication, and it might lead to confrontation.
Well, I’m sure there are Chinese people in this category living in Taiwan and elsewhere who grew up with a family story of revenge and hatred of Chinese communists. They could be the innocent kids then who fled to Taiwan with their families. Today, Taiwanese commentators like comparing Taiwan Strait tension to Ukraine war. I must say our world has already lost a generation of promising future in Ukraine. Seeds of anti-Russian sentiment are sowed in their young mind, and perhaps in their future children and grandchildren, too. For that, this Chinese is in sorrow.
History would need to be rewritten if one denies Chineseness in the blood of Taiwanese people. In fact the diaspora of the Chinese people and even the adopted Chinese children of non-Chinese parents all have this unique Chineseness in them. We cannot define what an American look like because so many Americans have different ethnic backgrounds. We also cannot distinguish the ancestral background by origin of an ethnic Chinese. We should give ourselves a chance to learn from one another and appreciate others’ goodness not vice.