TikTok has become famous for its short videos that regularly go viral. So it’s no surprise that the platform also helped jumpstart views of last week’s heated exchange at the U.S. Capitol between TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. It was more than a little ironic. Although Mr Chew is Singaporean, Ms Cotton seemed obsessed with questioning Mr Chew’s nationality.
TikTok is top of mind for people concerned that Chinese authorities can and already have access to the TikTok user data of their citizens. Despite Chew’s clear and repeated assertions of Singaporean citizenship and identity, Cotton continued to pursue Chew’s ties to China, and that Chew, as a Singaporean citizen, held a Singapore passport or had applied for Chinese nationality. (Singapore does not recognize dual nationality) or was a member of the Chinese Communist Party, so Chinese citizenship is required.
Unfortunately, questioning loyalty based on ethnicity is nothing new. A few years ago, at an Australian Senate hearing, Senator Eric Abetz spoke to Yun Jiang, a Chinese-Australian who was then director of the non-profit China Policy Center, and Osmond Qiu, a researcher at the think tank Per Capita. “Will they condemn?” he asked. Communist Party of China.
For many Asians and Asian diaspora communities in Western countries, these incidents reflect everyday experiences of racism and xenophobia. For Singaporeans, the Chew Cotton trade once again exposed Chinese Singaporeans to growing geopolitics and racial misunderstandings. The confusion of Chinese Singaporeans and Chinese nationals by the West, and even parts of China, has clearly not improved since the city-state’s independence. This confusion has led to the assumption that Singapore can only act in Beijing’s interests. On the surface, Singapore and China are considered one-party states with a Han Chinese majority and Mandarin as the official language.
But to believe that Singapore is ethnically Chinese is to completely ignore how vastly different the city-state and China are in terms of multiculturalism, language, governance, economy, foreign policy, and history. Unlike China, multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual Singapore, a growing opposition has reinvigorated democracy, with English the city-state’s lingua franca and Mandarin one of the four official languages. It’s just one of them.
As Singapore’s Ambassador Professor Tommy Koh has stated, “China needs to understand that Singapore is a multi-ethnic country and not an ethnic Chinese nation. Furthermore, as a sovereign and independent country, Singapore’s interests are It’s not necessarily the same as China’s interests.”
Chew represents a private, for-profit company located in the middle of two of the world’s largest countries.
Singapore’s leaders have lived this misconception at the international level. In 1967, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was asked a question. new york times Journalist: “As a Chinese person who understands China, can you predict or speculate about China’s future?” Senior Lee said, “First of all, I’m a Singaporean, so I can’t speak as a Chinese person. ethnic In stock, this is very important. ” (Emphasis mine.)
Some may think this misconception is a reflection of the 1960s, but 60 years later, in 2022, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was asked by someone: time magazine Journalist: “If the Biden administration had accepted your proposed role as Beijing’s whisperer”[er] And it was on Capitol Hill too. ” To this, his junior Lee replied: “I am not a Beijing whisperer…We are not part of a family. We are a Chinese, Chinese-majority country in Southeast Asia. [We are] It is multi-ethnic, multi-religious and has independent national interests and priorities. And they treat us that way, and we remind them that’s how it is. ”
In this response, Mr. Lee addressed the cause of the misunderstanding. There is a need to more clearly distinguish between the various meanings of the word “Chinese” in English. Nowadays, it can refer to citizenship, ethnicity, language, writing, and even cuisine. Chinese speakers are people of the People’s Republic of China (Chinese people, or “Chinese”, literally meaning “people of the Middle Kingdom”) and Singaporeans (“Xinkaporen”, literally “Singaporeans” or “Chinese”), which literally means “people of the Middle Kingdom”. “Shinkepojin”) can be easily distinguished. ”), or among various ethnic groups such as China’s Han Chinese (Hua/Chinese, or “Chinese”), or even the Peranakan people of the Li ethnic group (峇峇女 charm/峇峇孃 charm, or “Baba Nian Le”). There is even. In English, such distinctions are lost, leading to the cotton confusion.
On the home front, Singaporeans will have to keep a close eye on this interaction, and any other interactions that Chew may face in the near future. For Singaporeans, a small nation, it remains a novelty to see fellow “sons of Singapore” so visibly active on the world stage. It is an even rarer sight to see someone who is not part of the political system. Prime Minister Lee and Prime Minister Lee represented Singapore as heads of government with a political mission in the face of confusion between Singapore and China. In this case, Chew represents a private commercial company in the middle of his two great powers of the world. The hard truth is that the fact that Mr. Chu is a Singaporean national does not hide the fact that he heads a wholly owned subsidiary of China’s largest high-tech company, and that he will never be subject to any indirect influence from the Chinese government. cannot be guaranteed.
This is not the first time Thieu has testified before Congress about national security concerns surrounding data and Big Tech, and it likely won’t be the last. As Singaporeans who are not technocrats find themselves at the center of the conflict between the Chinese and US governments, the risk of such misunderstandings and misrepresentations on an international scale, even when real geopolitical security issues arise, is It will have a significant impact on Singapore’s geopolitical position and reputation.
For Singaporeans, this virus moment is a stark reminder of the challenges we face as a small country, and a call to arms to remind international countries that Singapore will follow its own national interests. For the West, this is not just a reminder to correct misconceptions. If the West wants to engage with the world, it must recognize the nuances of history, coloniality, ethnicity, language, and nationality, and heed the call for a more informed and nuanced understanding of Asia. It is.