Letters | Anti-China vitriol in the West creates climate of fear for Chinese immigrants
- Loud protests against China’s geopolitical ambitions risk unleashing the demons of race-based discrimination and abuse against Chinese immigrants
The time is ripe for discussing new leadership models. A better governance model could include the best elements of the Xi Jinping model of herding the community in the right direction of prosperity, grafted onto a moderated insistence on the indomitable rights of individual citizens. After all, former US president Donald Trump’s 2016 victory unleashed hate and harm in a model democracy.
Looking after both individual and community welfare is necessary in light of the torrent of indignation over the influence-peddling that accompanies China’s geopolitical ambition. I worry that loud protests risk unleashing the demons of race-based discrimination and abuse against Chinese immigrants. Newly arrived immigrants from China want to establish families and careers in the adopted countries to which they pledge allegiance. Some were granted asylum after the Tiananmen Square crackdown and others, such as Falun Gong members, were forced to leave because of religious persecution.
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Asian-American families wary about school return as hate violence increases
In these fractured and suspicion-laden times, I fear vitriolic anti-China attacks will spill over into hatred of Chinese like myself, just as violence was visited upon peaceful Muslims by implicating a whole community in the terrorist acts of a few.
Joseph Ting, Brisbane
Mistreatment of African-Americans is bewildering