Fear and Paranoia: How Anti-Communist Attitudes Fuel Sinophobia and Anti-Asian Sentiment
Article by Michelle Yap | Art by Jillian Hartshorne
“Of what nation are you a citizen of?”
“Singapore, Senator.”
“Have you ever applied for Chinese citizenship?”
“Senator, I serve my nation in Singapore.”
“Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?”
“Senator, I’m Singaporean, no.”
“Have you ever been associated or affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party?”
“No, Senator, again, I’m Singaporean.”
This interaction that happened on the floor of Congress between TikTok CEO Shou Chew and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) just over a year ago has since become a big meme online, especially with the recent ban and unban of TikTok we experienced earlier this year. People around the world were shocked at how ridiculous these questions were, at how a US Senator deciding the future of our country couldn’t even grasp the simple fact that just because someone is Asian, it doesn’t mean that they’re a Chinese citizen, let alone a member of the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a funny situation because what even was the point of asking those questions, and what was achieved from asking them? We can make fun of this interaction because of how absurd it is, but we also need to acknowledge how dangerous the mindset associated with those questions is. The Chinese government has always been public enemy #1 to the US government and vice versa because of literal opposite ideals, but the projection of that attitude onto societal norms has proved to be dangerous in the past, and it worries me that this mindset is still so prevalent today.
The biggest stem of this issue is the fear and paranoia surrounding anything remotely Communist, which is somewhat valid because it goes against our foundational American ideals and values. However, we’ve seen what happens when too much fear and stigma are pushed onto societal values, we get events like McCarthyism.
McCarthyism is the name associated with the series of investigations and hearings conducted Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) from 1950-1954 targeting supposed communist infiltrations throughout the US government. He failed to make legitimate cases against any single one of his “suspects”, instead defaming them through baseless accusations. These events stemmed from the fear and paranoia surrounding Communism, which at that time was mostly based on the US government’s staunch opposition of the Soviet Union right out of WW2.
This is scary because even though McCarthyism took place on a much larger scale and within the US government itself, why is literally the exact same mindset being enforced throughout our society today? Not only that, why does that attitude continuously get pushed even though it so clearly perpetuates racism against Asian people?
Today, fears have been shifted towards China’s Communist government instead of the Soviet Union’s. We’ve seen this play out multiple times throughout the past 5 years itself. With Covid, the racism was bad enough already just because of Covid’s origins in China, with it being called the “China-virus” by the US President. However, when governmental organizations released information that they believed that the virus got leaked from a Chinese government-sanctioned lab, which even could be true, that narrative got spun around into things that made absolutely no sense because of the antagonization of China’s communism. That’s when conspiracy theorists started to say that maybe the Chinese government leaked the virus on purpose, with no evidence to back it up. How much fear and paranoia does one need to have in order to start making baseless claims that any government would purposely release a deadly virus that killed millions of people? This further ramped up anti-Asian sentiment, with the assumption that any Asian person is Chinese increasing as well. I think that this was the first time that I’ve ever heard the word “chink”, the derogatory slur for Asian people, being used. I dealt with a lot of anxiety during this time because I was terrified that my dad would get harassed at work for being Asian and getting the blame for something that he wasn’t even remotely associated with. Those are things that a 12-year-old should not come across or think about, and it hurts me that other kids have experienced the same.
Now that Covid is over, focus has shifted over to TikTok. In 2020, Trump requested to ban TikTok over a potential national security threat, which, again could have some truth to it. However, that fear of China and communism led to that conversation between Senator Tom Cotton and CEO Shou Chew. That interaction felt like an interaction from the McCarthyism period, but instead, it happened just over a year ago. It sounded like Senator Cotton was trying to convince himself and the American public that a person who had clearly identified himself as a Singaporean was actually a Chinese Communist. I don’t understand how difficult it is to realize that most Asian people aren’t Chinese, and that assuming so is extremely racist. These ideas continued to the point where a ban on TikTok was announced and later enforced, all based on beliefs that TikTok was spying on the American people for Chinese Communists. Even on the day of the ban, Senator Cotton was still spouting this dangerous language, tweeting “Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs. Think about it.” Just because someone believes that something is true does not mean that it is, and if the government officials deciding and voting on our future aren’t aware of this and speak about theories in harmful ways, then our country is failing to protect the happiness of the people.
What outrages me even more is that just 14 hours after the ban took place, TikTok came back online with messages saying that they were working with President Trump, the very person who requested to ban TikTok in the first place. All of a sudden, just because of the increase of TikTok views during his campaign, he has “a warm spot in [his] heart for TikTok”. Then what was the point of suggesting that TikTok was actually a media for Chinese Communist spies? It sounds more like that idea was being spread for personal gain, which makes those words all the more dangerous.
The fact that one of the biggest and most widely used technological companies could be banned in the US, just because of its association with China, is insane, and that makes me wonder, how will that affect people of Asian descent? If a big-name CEO who had made themself clear that they were not a Chinese citizen was repeatedly pressured by a government official to admit that he is Chinese and that he is a member of the Chinese Communist party on national television, what could that mean for normal Asian people? Anti-Communist rhetoric is understandable because communism goes against some of our most basic ideals, but when does that rhetoric become a weapon used by some of the biggest names in politics to get what they want? And more importantly, at what point does it cause more harm than good to America’s people? Because from what I’ve seen, a lot of that anti-communist attitude has stepped across that fine line of protecting our country’s national security and perpetuating stereotypes and racism against Asian people, and that makes me scared for my future and the future of the country.
Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/15/donald-trump-tiktok-ban/77724323007/
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tiktok-ban-da11df6d59c17e2c17eea40c4042386d
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/tom-cotton-backlash-tiktok-ceo-shou-chew-rcna136673
