Survey shows Asian-American image hit by China fears
Posted: 23 April 2009 0013 hrs
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 Immigrants saying the Pledge of Allegiance after being sworn in as US citizens during naturalization ceremonies. | |||||
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WASHINGTON : Fears over China are hitting the US image of Asian-Americans, as their loyalties come under suspicion despite steady improvements in perceptions of the community, a survey said.
The Committee of 100, a Chinese-American group, conducted a nationwide survey to look at changes since its major study in 2001 on attitudes toward Asian-Americans.
The latest survey found that more than two-thirds of the public believed immigration from Asia was good for the nation and that far more people than in 2001 were willing to accept an Asian-American marrying into the family or as an official representing them in government.
After electing Barack Obama as their first African-American leader, just nine percent of Americans were uncomfortable with the idea of an Asian-American president, well down from 23 percent in 2001, the survey said.
But 45 percent of the general public believed Asian-Americans were more loyal to their nations of origin than the United States -- up from 37 percent at the beginning of the decade.
Frank Wu, a scholar who helped lead the study, said that those Americans with the most anxiety about China's rapidly growing economy were also the most concerned about Asian-Americans.
"There is increasing acceptance of Asian-Americans as people who are equals with the right to take part in democracy and are no different from white or black Americans," Wu told AFP Tuesday.
"But coupled to that, there is also a great sense among a significant part of the population that they are not quite 'real' Americans," he said.
The survey, administered by Harris Interactive, interviewed 1,427 adults around the United States in January.
Wu said that unlike some other groups, particularly African-Americans, stereotypes about Asian-Americans were largely positive -- the image of a "model minority" who are hard-working.
"We're lavished with praise on the one hand but if you scratch just a bit beneath the surface, then Asians are seen as not just hard-working but as unfair competition -- that they are sort of taking over," Wu said.
Around five percent of the US population claims ancestry from Asia. Much of the community traces longstanding roots; Chinese first immigrated to the continent in significant numbers during the California Gold Rush in the 1840s.
The survey found that fears of China rubbed off on all Asian-Americans regardless of their nation of ancestry with much of the US public not making a distinction.
"Go back 25 years to the peak of Japan-bashing when everyone was saying that Japan was going to become number one," Wu said. "Asian-Americans have found throughout history that they cannot insulate themselves from whichever is Asia's up-and-coming power."
In one of the most horrific attacks against Asian-Americans, Detroit auto workers who blamed Japanese companies for economic hard times beat to death a Chinese-American, Vincent Chin, in 1982.
The latest poll found that some two-thirds of Americans feared China could pose a threat within 10 years -- roughly the same figure as in 2001. But the percentage of Americans worried about Japan tumbled from 39 percent in 2001 to 26 percent now.
Some 73 percent fretted over North Korea in the latest survey and 31 percent believed India could pose a threat.
The survey also studied Chinese-Americans' attitudes. In one interesting finding, the poll found that Chinese-Americans were much more likely than the population at large to accept gay marriage.
Like the general US public, a majority of Chinese-Americans said they would not be bothered if a family member married someone of another race.
- AFP /ls
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