US House Loudspeaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei , Taiwan, prompted warnings and risks from the Chinese government, but it is not likely to upset her Taiwanese American and Chinese American constituents in San Francisco.
Pelosi left Taiwan on August 3, 2022, after a whirlwind 24-hour trip, where she met with lawmakers and Tsai Ing-wen, president of Taiwan.
While Pelosi defended her vacation by writing that it shows the United States’ “commitment to democracy, ” China responded with military drills and threats associated with future punishment for the US and Taiwan.
Taiwan, an island off the coast of China, considers alone a completely independent country – while China maintains that it must be a breakaway province it would like to again officially supervise.
Some experts called Pelosi’s trip reckless, threatening US-China relations – yet she won’t necessarily need to answer to her voting base in San Francisco, high are 187, 500 Chinese and Taiwanese Americans.
Asian American studies scholar Jonathan H By Lee in San Francisco points out why many voters in this community are certainly not intensely invested in the particular escalating political tensions in the South China region. Here are 4 key points to keep in mind.
This is unlikely to turn voters away from Pelosi
For many Chinese language Americans, it is just no problem that’s really on their radar. Most are second- and third-generation Chinese Americans, and maybe sometimes even fourth-generation. They will don’t have a lot of heavy connections or nationalist kinds of connections in order to mainland China.
If you were to request a group of Chinese American college students about Taiwan, the majority would probably reflect the general kind of understanding that the general American community would have, which is not significant.
They don’t understand the history of Taiwan breaking off from China in 1949. Therefore the reason this doesn’t register with Chinese language American voters in San Francisco is that this particular geopolitical issue is just not on their list of major issues.
Some other priorities for voters
I know which the leadership in Taiwan and people in Taiwan are loving this visit simply by Pelosi. So in terms of her approval with Taiwanese American voters, this will do a great deal, because it really reaffirms the United States’ dedication to Taiwan’s sovereignty , which Taiwanese Americans care about.
But currently, the major political issue on a lot of Chinese Americans’ and Taiwanese Americans’ minds would be anti-Chinese and anti-Asian hate that has occurred since the start of this worldwide pandemic – fanned by former chief executive Donald Trump, who else racialized the pandemic by using terms like “ Tiongkok virus , ” the “ kung flu ” and so on. Pumpiing and economic problems are also a serious issue.
Chinese People in america aren’t a homogeneous voting bloc
Chinese American is definitely an umbrella category that will at times has the function. So within my research and in my discussions with Taiwanese foreign students, if they come to the US they find themselves sometimes visiting the conclusion that it’s easier for them to simply say, “I’m Chinese language, ” because they speak Mandarin. If they say they’re Taiwanese, they would be required to then clarify.
Something that I actually hear them state quite often is, “I’m from Taiwan. ” And then the person, not being aware of anything about Taiwan versus China, says, “Oh, I love Thai food” – meaning food from Thailand, a totally different nation. There’s that level of unawareness.
The Taiwanese American identity is a very exclusive identity within the Chinese language American community. This states very clearly that these individuals inherently support Taiwan’s geopolitical sovereignty. It really is, in essence, a very nationalistic identity, not just a social one.
Chinese Americans are less nationalistic due to the fact we’re not identifying with mainland Tiongkok. Rather, we are identifying as members of a community that is associated with Chinese heritage, therefore it becomes more cultural, more linguistic.
Second- and third-generation Chinese Americans, especially, have lost some of the skills or don’t have some of the skills that help maintain a very solid cultural link, for example not speaking Mandarin or even Cantonese , or many of the other dialects of China.
And if anything, Chinese language Americans are critics of China, in terms of human rights, Tibet and child labor issues.
The overall political effect
Taking a step back and looking at a brief history of US officials heading to Taiwan reveals that will nothing has really materialized from the dangers from China . In terms of retaliation, there has always been very strong, general public kind of speech about how exactly they disapprove, and perhaps some strong dangers.
But nothing came of those threats, and relationships quickly normalized. And I think that’s going to be the situation here, too.
I think the question of whether or not it will have an effect on her constituents in Bay area is an extremely interesting question. And I think it’s exciting because it reveals the variety in terms of understanding Chinese Americans versus Taiwanese Americans.
The majority of Chinese Americans plus Taiwanese Americans vote Democratic, so if Pelosi went or didn’t go, I don’t believe it’s going to have a big effect. Because they are going to still vote glowing blue .
Jonathan They would X Lee , Professor of Hard anodized cookware American Studies, San Francisco State University
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