My Take | Racism for all to see at US grilling of TikTok’s Singaporean chief Chew Shou Zi
- Abuse and constant references to Chinese Communist Party by senator right out of McCarthyite era and reason for world to be wary of America
By now, politicians in the US Congress are probably the only people unaware – or pretend to be – that TikTok chief executive Chew Shou Zi is from Singapore. Everyone else knows. I know. I mean, is Bill Gates American?
But since the poor guy looks Asian, he must be a Chinese national, and by extension, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, which in the parallel universe of Washington, is the real puppet master behind the hugely popular social media platform.
How else do you explain the disgraceful performance of Republican Senator Tom Cotton who kept asking Chew about his connections to the Chinese Communist Party, despite the tech executive repeatedly asserting that he was Singaporean at a Senate hearing this week.
Even after Chew said, “Senator, I’m Singaporean. No.”, Cotton demanded to know about his passport for proof of citizenship.
Singapore does not allow dual nationalities.
The recorded embarrassing exchange has gone viral, especially in Singapore where netizens have called out Cotton over his perceived racism and poor understanding of their country, while memes have been created to poke fun at the senator from Arkansas.