Negotiating clashing Chinese, S'porean identities amid China's growing influence

[The_King]

Singaporeans might be accustomed to seeing their country top various global rankings, but one would imagine eyebrows being raised in surprise at the Republic coming in second on a worldwide index measuring Chinese influence.

Dubbed the China Index, it puts Singapore behind only Cambodia - perceived in some quarters as a quasi-vassal state of China - in a ranking of 36 countries by their exposure to, pressure and effect of Chinese influence. Out of nine domain areas, Singapore was found to be most susceptible in technology, society and academia; but less so for domestic politics.

However, reactions have largely been reserved, with some pointing to Singapore's majority ethnic Chinese population - it is the only country outside of Greater China to have one - and embrace of Chinese culture to rationalise the findings in the report.

A commenter on an online forum said those critical of Chinese influence in Singapore are "naive", declaring that "our ancestors come from China… people always complain about the Communist Party of China (CPC), but the fact is, China is prosperous today", before going on to slam the United States for being in a "shambles".

What do such sentiments suggest? That there is, as some observers have already noted, at times a casual, even careless, blending of Chinese ethnic and cultural affinities with the politics and policies of China's ruling party - all lumped under an ill-defined umbrella of "Chineseness".

This, in turn, has ramifications for a young Singapore whose common national identity remains in flux or as former top diplomat Bilahari Kausikan describes it, "is still malleable and being pulled in different directions by different influences".

Conflating Chineseness

The report echoes one released in September last year by French think-tank Irsem, which described China’s efforts to infiltrate and coerce states around the world. A chapter was devoted to Singapore and how it is particularly vulnerable to Chinese influence.

But some Singaporeans have also voiced suspicion about the motives and what they see as an "obvious bias" of Doublethink Lab, the Taiwan-based civil society outfit which authored the China Index.

"For me, anything from Taiwan will be skewed towards Western views and interpretation… the findings will not be objective," says retiree Ronald Lim, 76.

Tensions between China and Taiwan have risen in recent years. Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunified by force if need be, while the democratically ruled island - which raised its alert level in response to Russia's February invasion of Ukraine - rejects these sovereignty claims.

For some individuals whom I met while researching a Straits Times CloseUp documentary titled China Calling, being ethnically Chinese necessarily means throwing their weight behind what they see as an incontrovertible fact that Taiwan "belongs" to China.

China's rise to global supremacy would not be complete without Taiwan's return to "one China" - the standpoint that both are part of the same country - and inextricably linked to the rise of the Chinese people, they say.

As IT engineer Victor Low, 50, tells me: "My race is Chinese… I still feel part of the Chinese bloodline, and I want to see that bloodline prosper again, as it did hundreds of years ago."

Most of my interviewees were also considerably immersed in the Chinese cultural sphere - regularly consuming Chinese-language news, TV shows, music and frequenting Chinese platforms such as WeChat and Weibo.

Appreciating one's ethnic Chinese identity and the culture behind it is not the issue. Associating and tying these with the fates of the Chinese state and its ruling CPC - unconsciously or otherwise - is, and fits right into the nationalist narrative and larger sphere of influence that Beijing is cultivating.

In a speech marking the CPC's centenary last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping repeated a call for "all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, both at home and abroad" to unite behind the goal of China's "national rejuvenation".

Political scientist Chong Ja Ian from the National University of Singapore says: "Defining everything 'Chinese' as synonymous with the PRC (People's Republic of China) state and the CPC is something that makes sense for PRC state-building efforts."

Sense of Singaporean self

Mr Kausikan, the retired diplomat, has spoken at length on the dangers of ethnic Chinese Singaporeans showing sympathy and sentimentality for China, and its expanding interests.

"It can undermine the multiracial and multicultural character of Singapore, and stress our social cohesion. Indeed, I think it has already begun to do so," he says.

An oft-cited Pew Research Centre survey from June 2021 found that Singaporeans were the only ones among developed economies in the Asia-Pacific to view China more favourably than the US.

And this breaks along ethnic lines: About 72 per cent of Chinese Singaporeans had favourable views of China, compared with 45 per cent of Malays and 52 per cent of Indians here.

There is little doubt the Singapore Government treats race as an existential issue and has endeavoured to project a unique Singaporean identity centred on the unity of the different ethnicities. But how this translates on the ground is less certain.

Back in 2009, in his book Can Asians Think?, former diplomat Kishore Mahbubani wrote that some Chinese Singaporeans may be drawn to their Chinese origins in "an effort to define their own personal, social and national identities in a way that enhances their sense of self-esteem in a world where their immediate ancestors had subconsciously accepted that they were lesser beings in a Western universe".

Today, it appears this search for confidence in one's own worth continues - and at least among those interviewed for the ST documentary - has been layered with some degree of underlying dissatisfaction at what it means to be Singaporean.

Mr Kilmar Wong, 43, who is self-employed, says he identifies more closely with Chinese traditions and values.

Mr Low says: “It’s not so much that I want to move to China or be a Chinese citizen, but I just feel that they are taking care of their people more so than the Singaporean government is taking care of Singaporeans.” He sees Singapore as the only place in the world where foreigners are more valued than locals.

Observers have suggested that the way forward is to emphasise commonly held principles - to not just foster a sense of belonging and solidarity, but to also transcend a brand of pragmatism that Singaporeans have come to be known for.

Associate Professor Chong says the national pledge and its ideas of democracy, justice and equality is a good place to start.

How Singaporeans, including those in authority, hold themselves and one another to account on these values is then the key question that must be explored - with an eye on a simple objective as outlined by Prof Chong: "To help Singaporeans - especially of the next generation - develop a clearer, positive sense of who we are."

[socrates469bc]

really brain-washed gao gao.

 

btw, do any kgks know how Emperor Xi got into tsinghua???????

 

if u know liao, then u know why tiongland is in such a mess now.

 

wahahahahahahaha

 

[The_King]

4 minutes ago, socrates469bc said:

really brain-washed gao gao.

 

btw, do any kgks know how Emperor Xi got into tsinghua???????

 

if u know liao, then u know why tiongland is in such a mess now.

 

wahahahahahahaha

 

 

 

they are worried

 

this is the 2nd news about china. as always too slow and too late

 

 

[The_King]

for now it all about china the reason is simple

 

[Huat Zai]

Heng my brain has been permanently rotted by western potatoes