Racism

Motivated by its rivalry with the Soviet Union, the US focused its resources on becoming a science and technology giant after World War II. Now, in competition with China, can the US muster a "whole-of-nation" approach to regain a clear dominance in science and technology?

The liberalist discursive system leaves little room for one to contemplate the possibility that a strong government can also be a good government, much less the positives of the East Asian developmental state or Asian values. In fact, under the East Asian social contract, people are willing to empower the government for greater outcomes for all, and the government works to win the approval of the people as a means to preserve their legitimacy. Now, when the flaws of liberalism are laid bare by Covid-19 and other crises, it may be worth taking a closer look at the merits of the East Asian social contract. 

US academic Han Dongping notes that the US is no longer in the leading position it used to hold, and it is finding it difficult to handle the challenges from other countries, especially China, not least because of its own domestic contradictions that are getting harder and harder to reconcile. It can no longer rely on old ways of maintaining order domestically and internationally. It has to come up with new strategies — fast.

While Nazism and socialism fall on opposite ends of the spectrum, they are more alike than they seem. Hong Kong commentator Chip Tsao points out that both ideologies began with similar intentions, but took divergent paths to meet their objectives and garnered different reactions from the West.

US academic Han Dongping says that electoral politics in the US seems to have deviated from its original intent, which was to elect a leader that represents public opinion. The quest for power is now a game of thrust and parry by the elites and the wealthy, and is rarely in line with what the man on the street needs or wants. Is the “Trump or Biden” toss-up then just a false choice?

US academic Zhu Zhiqun opines that conditions in the US are becoming increasingly unfavourable for Chinese and Asian Americans. In particular, the current toxic environment and pressure on US institutions to clamp down on Chinese students are undoing decades of goodwill generated from people-to-people exchanges. Will the authorities realise that soon enough and make a U-turn?

Nothing is black and white when it comes to race debates, says Yu Shiyu. What if you’re not black but ‘brown’ as some term it, that is, a minority nonetheless. Some Asian Americans of Chinese and Indian descent have been labelled model minorities for largely rising through the ranks though they face some forms of discrimination. Question is, if they don't see the current protests as their fight and stay out of the fray, are they equally culpable?

Since China launched its BRI in 2013, over 100 countries have signed agreements with China to work together on projects such as railways, highways, ports and other infrastructure. According to estimates from Refinitiv, there are over 2,600 projects in the BRI with a combined value of US$3.7 trillion. However, amid the pandemic spread, disruptions to global supply chains, anti-Chinese sentiment and clamours for debt relief, China is facing major hurdles and dilemmas on how it should forge ahead with the BRI. Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu reports from Beijing.

While some in China admire certain values the US upholds such as the rule of law, Han Dongping observes the irony that in many ways, China’s age-old practice of community policing at the grassroots level may have produced a more humane way of rehabilitating rather than incarcerating offenders. If the George Floyd case that sparked angry protests is anything to go by, the US seems overrun with law enforcement woes rather than ruled by the law.