The article liberally drops anti-Chinese sentiment at every paragraph. Things like:
"Of Chinese heritage, Liew was born in Malaysia in August 1957."
That would be the equivalent of writing:
"Of Kenyan heritage, Obama was born in the USA".
"Of Chinese heritage, Liew was born in Malaysia in August 1957."
That would be the equivalent of writing:
"Of Kenyan heritage, Obama was born in the USA".
Where do the loyalties of naturalized US (and Canadian) citizens truely lie? I feel that this was less of an issue until the US began allowing dual citizenships i.e. you no longer have to renounce citizenship from your country of origin in order to become a US citizen / you can become a citizen of another country and still be a US citizen. On the surface, you'd expect this to be simple; these individuals would be most loyal to the US... As a naturalized US citizen of Chinese descent, I've had some interesting conversations with other naturalized US citizens of Chinese descent that would show that it's more complicated than that.
I'm not sure how, but the topic of "what would happen if China and the US ever declared war on each other?" came up. To my surprise, the other naturalized Chinese Americans told me that they would be conflicted as to who they would support. For context, these are educated people with post-grad degrees from places like Berkeley with occupations to match. They also seem completely naturalized with accents that would fool people into thinking they were born and raised here. The kicker is that neither person was born or raised in China but each grew up in some Southeast Asian country, yet they're essentially comtemplating treason solely due to their race. I found it strange. Since what I have is just anecdotal, I'm guessing (and hoping) that most naturalized US citizens are way more loyal than that and I feel that Chinese Americans born and raised in the US don't have this issue at all. Still I have a feeling that this is probably only going to get worse when you have stuff like birth tourism happening i.e. You get US citizens who spend most of their lives in a foreign country resulting in loyalties to that foreign country
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/01/china-us-birth-tour...
To be fair, China isn't the only country related to this issue. I could be wrong but the US probably has the same problem with dual citizenships involving Russia, Israel, Turkey, or any other country that isn't 100% aligned with US interests
Of course, this has a fix. Just don't allow dual citizenships in the US. Force people to choose.
You can, rather, look at this from the perspective of arguing parents, where they want you to pick one or the other. The only way to win is to not play, and to derive identity from your self, rather than what patch of dirt you happened to be born upon.
In an ideal world, we wouldn't have things like this or racism; but it's extremely naive to pretend it doesn't exist. If you have any familiarity with current events in East Asia, you'll know that nationalism is on the rise.
On a related note, did you not read this portion of my comment? "I'm guessing (and hoping) that most naturalized US citizens are way more loyal than that and I feel that Chinese Americans born and raised in the US don't have this issue at all." Everything isn't black and white.
> You can, rather, look at this from the perspective of arguing parents, where they want you to pick one or the other. The only way to win is to not play, and to derive identity from your self, rather than what patch of dirt you happened to be born upon.
There are multiple problems with this analogy. 1. You only get the 3rd choice if you're willing not to live in either parent's house when we're talking countries. 2. Another problem is that you're looking at this from a Western perspective. In the East, especially in Asia; you derive your identify more from the group and not the individual; so if you consider yourself more 'Chinese' than 'American', you're going to symphatize more with one side. It's a different culture that you're obviously not familiar with.
I also don't appreciate being made to look like I'm demonizing ALL naturalized US citizens, when I've made it very clear that I wasn't, especially since I'm one of them. Really, you should fully read a comment before making a rash post. This isn't reddit.
> they're essentially comtemplating treason solely due to their race.
Do you realize how racist you sound? You sound the same as the people who would put Japanese-Americans in internment camps but not German-Americans or Italian-Americans.
> You sound the same as the people who would put Japanese-Americans in internment camps but not German-Americans or Italian-Americans.
Considering I'm also of Chinese descent, I obviously don't want that. I guess you didn't read my entire comment, since I also mention countries besides China? You're making a really strong and ridiculous assumption about me with a really shitty accusation. It's even more annoying when I've proposed ending dual citizenship as the solution. Please read comments fully before responding.
See, for example, the Cricket Test. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_test
> The cricket test, also known as the Tebbit test, was a controversial phrase coined in April 1990 by the British Conservative politician Norman Tebbit in reference to the perceived lack of loyalty to the England cricket team among South Asian and Caribbean immigrants and their children. Tebbit suggested that those immigrants who support their native countries rather than England at the sport of cricket are not significantly integrated into the United Kingdom.[1]
I think it's dumb, but a bunch of English people at the time seemed to think it was useful and relevant.
That's the thing about dual citizenship. It's not irrational to support your country of origin, unless you're part of a class of persecuted people. That is the place where you were born and raised, and where you derive your (initial) cultural values which you may or may not keep.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-dual-citizen...
"But the concept of dual citizenship is problematic both symbolically and practically, and could become divisive if more immigrants decide to avail themselves of the privileges of U.S. citizens — as we believe they ought to do. U.S citizens with strong ties to their ancestral countries have been accused of divided loyalties in the past even when they didn't possess citizenship in those countries — witness the internment of 110,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II. But when a U.S. citizen is also a citizen of another country, the accusation is even easier to make."
Ending dual citizenship would help prevent a future version of Japanese internment in the US.
Any country that wants my loyalty to a flag or some abstract concept has lost my vote of confidence right at the gate. Countries - just like people - should be judged by their actions and loyalty should be earned rather than demanded.
> countries - just like people - should be judged by their actions and loyalty should be earned rather than demanded.
I agree. On that note, maintaining a dual citizenship is an action that will be judged. Even with the constant influx of immigrants, it's rare to see. Less than half of 1% of a population of about 300 million people maintain dual citizenships. Most immigrants that attain US citizenship do not maintain a dual one.