Developments in the U.S., China, and the rest of the world, especially in the last three-to-four decades have undergone great changes. How the U.S. views China, and also how the U.S. views Chinese Americans have also undergone great changes. In order to understand how this relationship may develop in the future and to help shape that relationship, it is important to review briefly the past history of Chinese Americans in the U.S., and to assess the current situation. We then discuss possible future paths and how best to shape that future. This is important not only for Chinese Americans, but also for the U.S., China, and the rest of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Chinese\nAmericans \u2013 Past (1850 \u2013 ~2010)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 19th Century to WWII: <\/strong>The first significant migration of Chinese to the U.S. was\nin the second half of the 19th century, first around the 1850s with the\ndiscovery of gold and the subsequent gold rush to the Western U.S. This was\nshortly followed in the 1860s by the hiring of large number Chinese workers to\nbuild the western half of the first continental railroad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But these first Chinese in the U.S,\nwere not really Chinese Americans, because U.S. laws discriminated against them\nnot allowing them to become U.S. citizens, to hold certain jobs, to testify in\ncourts, to bring their wives to the U.S., etc. As a matter of fact, such\ndiscrimination led to many violent actions, including lynchings and murders of\nChinese in the U.S. [1] It eventually led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882\n[1], the only law in American history to deny citizenship or entry based on a\nspecific nationality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, during the 19th century, there was one bright exception on U.S.-China relationship. That was the law that was passed by the U.S. in 1868 known as the Burlingame Treaty. This treaty changed the U.S.-China relationship that was based on unequal treaties to one based on equality of nations. Unfortunately, Burlingame died young in 1870 when he was on a diplomatic mission to Russia. His early death, together with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the delay of the Reconstruction Movement, and rising anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S., led to basically the repeal of the Burlingame Treaty [2] in the 1870s and the passing in 1882 of the \u201cChinese Exclusion Act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882\nwas supposed to be effective for only 10 years, but it was renewed several\ntimes, and it did not get repealed until 1943 when China was an ally of the US\nfighting against the Japanese during WWII.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to point out that for more than four years (February 1942 to March 1946) during WWII, the U.S. government violated the rights of its citizens by arresting and incarcerating essentially all Japanese Americans in concentration camps in the western interior of the country, an issue we will come back later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We also want to point out that over 2,500 Chinese Americans of the U.S. Army volunteered to help fight the Japanese in China from 1944 to 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Post WWII: <\/strong>When the Chinese Communists won the civil war and\nestablished the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC), the U.S. immediately adopted\na policy to isolate, surround, and weaken China. The U.S. did not prosecute\nEmperor Hirohito for Japan\u2019s war crimes during WWII even though Emperor\nHirohito was a hands-on emperor and he was aware of and approved all major\ndecisions made by Japan during the war. The U.S. also did not prosecute any of\nthe scientists, military and political leaders in charge of the infamous Unit\n731 that carried out unimaginable atrocities against the Chinese population,\nincluding vivisection on live people and unleashing numerous biological and\nchemical weapons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S, government also forbade the\nbrilliant Chinese rocket scientist Qian Xuesen (\u94b1\u5b66\u68ee) from returning to China. In a highly questionable\ndecision, the U.S. government placed him under house arrest for five years and\ndid not release him until 1955 in exchange for American pilots captured during\nthe Korean War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. China relationship did not\nthaw until 1972 when President Nixon made his historic visit to China. Even\nafter China was admitted into the U.N. in 1979, U.S. continued its antagonistic\npolicy toward China, by continuing to surround China with military bases and\npatrolling the seas all around China with its massive 7th fleet. The U.S.\ncontinued to use Japan as her front-line pawn to isolate, surround and weaken\nChina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chinese\nAmericans \u2013 Present (~2010 \u2013 2019)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n During the last three-four decades\nstarting in the early 1980s, China\u2019s economy grew at a rapid pace, so that\naround 2010, its economy exceeded that of Japan and became the world\u2019s second\nlargest economy. Simultaneously China also made significant progress in\nincreasing its standard of living, the infrastructure of the whole country, its\nmanufacturing quality and quantity, its technical and scientific innovations,\nand its military power. If such progress continues, then China will become the\nU.S.\u2019 main competitor economically, militarily, and politically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the U.S. has always adopted\nan antagonistic policy toward PRC, for the first 50 years that policy was more\nbased on a dislike of the Chinese political system, and not as much due to\nseeing an immediate or near-term threat to the U.S. as the dominant power in\nthe world. However, this has changed in the last 10 years or so. It started\nwith the 2012 Obama-Clinton\u2019s \u201cPivot to Asia\u201d policy that basically looked upon\nChina as the main threat to the U.S.\u2019 continued hegemony dominance of the\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This has escalated by an order of\nmagnitude under the Trump administration that blames China for many of the\nshortcomings of the U.S. This is especially puzzling when it is Russia that has\ndone a lot of harms to the U.S. Apparently, the Russia actions benefited\nTrump\u2019s election to be the President of the U.S., and\/or Russia has evidence of\nTrump\u2019s illegal\/illicit\/unethical activities. This combination of reasons\ncaused Trump to look away from Russia and to find a scapegoat in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, all Chinese Americans\nmay become part of this scapegoat. In February 2018 in a hearing before the\nU.S. Senate, FBI Director Christopher Wray seemed to imply that all Chinese\nAmericans, including those born and live all their lives in the U.S., are\npotential security threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Trump is doing the most to\nblame China, one should not believe that the Democratic Party is not also\nantagonistic toward China. Almost all of the Democratic leaders, including\nSpeaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer,\nSenator Elizabeth Warren, and Senator Bernie Sanders, all adopt antagonistic\npolicies toward China. Apparently, it is politically more expedient to blame\nChina, instead of critically examining ourselves to see whether most of the\nproblems we face are caused by us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chinese\nAmericans \u2013 Future (2020 and Beyond)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Going forward, China and the U.S.\nare clearly going to be the two most important countries in the world, economically,\nmilitarily, and politically. They will be competing against each other for many\nyears to come. The fact that they have very much different political structure\nand ideology, with the U.S, a capitalist country with a two-party system and\nChina a socialist country with a one-party system, this competition will be\nvery intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using a sports analogy, this\ncompetition will be like the final of the Olympics competition or the final of\na World Cup competition. Just like a sports competition, the competition could\nbe fair and the team with the best skills and preparation will win, and the\nresults are gracefully accepted by all, including the losing team. Or it could\nbe a sports competition where teams may violate the rules of the game (e.g.,\nusing prohibited performance enhancing drugs) or using unacceptable behaviors\n(e.g., illegally attacking the opponent [3]). Then the results will be\nchallenged, especially if the winner was the team that was involved in such\nunacceptable behavior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although it is too early to know the\nresults of this competition, one probably can draw some conclusions from the\nfollowing developments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If such trends continue and the U.S.\neconomy falls significantly relative to the Chinese economy, then the following\noutcomes could happen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Should We Do? <\/strong>First we need to understand what is going on and why it is\nhappening. We need to realize that the U.S. is not as free and democratic\nas it may appear. We need to mobilize so that our voices could be\nheard. We need to join with other groups who may be fighting similar, although\nnot identical, battles so that our voices can be magnified. In spite of the\nodds, we need to run for political offices<\/p>\n\n\n\n The competition between China and\nthe U.S. is not necessarily a zero-sum game. While competing against each\nother, the two countries can also work together in collaboration with the rest\nof the world on certain critical issues that are important to the survival of\nthe human race, such as climate change, environmental pollution, epidemics,\nhunger, war and peace. Through such competition and collaboration, the\ntwo countries can learn from each other and improve each country\u2019s system; the\nlessons learned will be beneficial to the rest of the world as well. \nHaving a good relationship between the world\u2019s two most important countries can\nonly be good for the U.S., China, and the whole world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] See, e.g., Iris Chang, The\nChinese in America<\/em>, Penguin Books , New York, 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2] For more information on the Burlingame Treaty, see \u201cUS-China Relationship Can Use Another Anson Burlingame,\u201d China-US . Focus, 2016<\/em>: English version: http:\/\/www.chinausfocus.com\/foreign-policy\/us-china-relationship-can-use-another-anson-burlingame<\/a>. Chinese version: http:\/\/cn.chinausfocus.com\/foreign-policy\/20161219\/11328.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n