Protesters in Hong Kong demonstrate against China’s crackdown on dissent and democracy
An indefinite ban on Chinese graduate students and researchers from obtaining visas and entering the United States went into effect Monday.
President Donald Trump said he implemented the ban in response to China’s passage of a law meant to crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong, reported the New York Post.
However, Asian American civil rights groups remain skeptical.
“There is a disturbing pattern emerging between the racist and xenophobic rhetoric used by Trump regarding COVID-19 and the new efforts to impose limits on Chinese students,” said a statement from Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition consisting of Chinese for Affirmative Action, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, and Asian American Studies at San Francisco State.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice also blasted Trump’s actions.
“This ban on Chinese students from studying in the U.S. is another way to scapegoat our communities, just as he has with the Muslim, African, refugee, and immigration bans,” said the group in a joint statement with affiliates in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago.
“This move by Trump is rooted in the same racism and xenophobia that led to the expulsion of countless Chinese Americans and immigrants under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the wrongful incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II,” the group continued.
The latest move by Trump is part of a coordinated effort by the White House to paint the Democrats and the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden as soft on China. It’s also part of a stated strategy to shift the blame for the wide spread of COVID-19 from what some perceive as Trump’s slow response to China.
“We have seen time and again how dangerous it is when leaders scapegoat for political gain and spread racist and xenophobic language,” said Stop AAPI Hate. “If we do not demand government accountability now for the rising wave of discrimination against Asian Americans, it will become deeply entrenched and cause unimaginable harm and suffering.”
Both groups see a connection between the President’s rhetoric and a rise in anti-Asian racism and xenophobia.
“We are living through a resurgence of racism and anti-Asian sentiment fueling harmful immigration policies and laws against Asian Americans and immigrants. The racial profiling of Chinese Americans and immigrants related to claims of espionage will lead to more irreparable harm against innocent Chinese Americans,” said Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
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