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The inability for PRC nationalists, at least many on Twitter, to understand that I can recognize I'm ethnic Han Chinese AND that my parents are Hong Konger and Taiwanese AND that I'm American, reveals a crude grasp of identity, citizenship, and just being in the 21st century.
Beijing believes all ethnic Han Chinese — anywhere on earth — should be loyal to the Chinese Communist Party. Nationalists who accept CCP propaganda confuse this incorrectly as loyalty to country.
So where's my loyalty? I am a naturalized American citizen. I view it like a social contract I made as an immigrant to the US. Like a good American, I exercise my right to free speech (journalism!), speak truth to power, in order to build a more perfect Union.
That I say I'm American seems to make Chinese nationalists' heads explode. They point to the anti-Asian racism in the US right now. Okay. That's not going to make me run to worship at the feet of Xi Jinping are you kidding me his own daughter's studying at Harvard right now.
I'm absolutely disturbed by how quickly anti-Asian racism has proliferated in the US right now. That's why I signed this open letter. I also know if I face discrimination, there is legal recourse in the US that those Africans in Guangzhou don't have. https://bit.ly/3cjprWT
One more thought on identity — not just of HKers, Taiwanese, Chinese, Americans. I’ve reported from Israel and Palestine, North and South Korea where I see how identity and/or nationhood has changed. PRC insisting on what is China and who is Chinese is not reality, it’s ideology.
