TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former President Donald Trump gave rise to anti-Asian violence following the COVID-19 pandemic and normalized racism in America, Taiwanese Americans for Harris co-chair Jay Chen said in an interview with Taiwan News.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the country became privy to violence against Asian Americans, including street assaults, derogatory slurs, and a mass shooting in Atlanta where a white gunman opened fire on six Asian women. According to a study of the US’ 16 largest cities, anti-Asian violence surged by nearly 150% in 2020, with the most acute rises seen in New York and Los Angeles.
Anti-Asian racism is nothing new. From the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act to being denied citizenship until the 1940s, to the incarceration of Japanese Americans, to prejudice against South Asians post-9/11, most Asian Americans have faced some form of discrimination while living in the US, per Pew Research Center.
However, Trump’s white supremacist and xenophobic language has further aggravated anti-Asian sentiment in society, Chen said. He said anti-Asian crimes rose in 2020 because Trump “was willing to use slurs like ‘China virus’ or ‘Wuhan flu,’ which made it open season on Asian Americans.”
Research showed that Trump’s racist language had a profound impact on how people behave toward minority groups. “Previously this rhetoric would have been appalling to many, but Trump has normalized racism in America," Chen said.
Asian American loyalty questioned
Chen said that in recent years, US officials have faced accusations of disloyalty and treason simply because they are Asian. He said, “We have Republican members of Congress who are willing to accuse even Judy Chu, a true patriot, of having communist ties.”
US Representative Chu has been targeted by right-wing media personalities and Republican representatives like Lance Gooden, who questioned her “loyalty or competence” and said she should not have access to intelligence briefings. Chu and House members condemned Gooden’s claims as “dangerous,” "unconscionable,” and “based on false information.”
Chu said, “I very much doubt that he would be spreading these lies were I not of Chinese American descent.” US Representative Ted Lieu pointed out, “Attacking the loyalty of Asian Americans like Chu is a racist trope that has harmed Asian Americans throughout history.”
In addition, Chen said racism has been targeted at business leaders, such as the CEO of East West Bank Dominic Ng. Gooden and his colleagues hurled xenophobic attacks at Ng after he was appointed chair of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council.
“They have done that to even business leaders, so imagine what they can do to the average citizen,” Chen said. “If it can happen to them, it can happen to all of us.”
As a lieutenant commander in the US Naval Reserves, Chen said there should be more Asian Americans in the military. “We want to have people in decision-making authority who are going to call out racism if it happens, because it does happen,” he said.
He recalled the imprisonment of Japanese Americans when the US was at war with Japan. He said, “If we ever go to war with a country in the Indo-Pacific, we want people in elected office who are going to stop something from happening, like the Japanese American internment.”
Chen, the son of immigrants from Taiwan, was also the victim of malicious attacks when he ran for Congress in 2022. Despite Chen’s top secret security clearance, the Republican Campaign Committee attempted to paint him as an agent for China by running what CNN host Jake Tapper called “perhaps the most dishonest TV campaign ad we have ever seen.”
China initiative
During the Trump administration, multiple Asian American academics and scientists were wrongly accused of espionage under the “China Initiative.” Chen warned that Trump and Republican lawmakers will seek to revive this program if he wins in November.
The China Initiative was a Trump-era program supposed to combat espionage by Chinese government agents. However, instead of protecting national security, the program led to abusive investigations and misguided prosecutions against people of Asian descent.
Democratic lawmakers stated in a letter to Congress, “Researchers and scholars who have made valuable contributions to science, technology, and academia in this country for decades felt targeted by a racial profiling campaign and fearful of conducting research.” According to US Representative Grace Meng, “The China Initiative came at the expense of innocent Asian Americans, by questioning their loyalty and reinforcing negative and harmful stereotypes.”
After a long review, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division Matthew Olsen also acknowledged the program gave rise to a “harmful perception” of bias against anyone with “racial, ethnic, or familial ties to China.”
"While I remain focused on the threat the Chinese government poses, I have concluded this initiative is not the right approach," Olsen said.
When asked about his message to Asian Americans this election season, Chen responded, “What I would ask Taiwanese Americans and Asian Americans to remember is that fear that we lived in … that fear that we had when our parents said they were going to go to the supermarket.”
“That’s not a fear that we should ever have felt in this day and age,” he said. “But it happened because of how racist Trump was.”
Chen added, “If we don't have a seat at the table, we will continue to be on the menu. That's why Asian Americans must assert their civic duty, register to vote, then exercise that vote.”
