The Olympic torch relay will take place tomorrow in San Francisco and protests have already taken place. Now Chinese-Americans are speaking out against politicians and interest groups who are threatening, in their opinion, to ruin the Games. From the Christian Science Monitor:
For decades, the Chinese community in San Francisco has been broadly divided between mainlanders and the numerically smaller but more prosperous and influential Taiwanese, who are traditionally critical of the Communist regime in Beijing. Yet, many Chinese-Americans including Taiwanese like Yuan support the Games and denounce the human rights protests reflects the power of ethnic pride over politics – but also a shift in the diaspora’s attitude toward Beijing in recent years.
Evidence that the Taiwan-mainland split has softened can be found fluttering from the rooftops of San Francisco’s Chinatown, home to one of the oldest Chinese communities in North America. A decade ago, Taiwanese flags flew over most family associations or community hubs here. Now half have been replaced by the red-and-yellow flags of the People’s Republic of China, says David Lee, executive director of the Chinese American Voter Education Committee.
The flags reflect a shift in demographics but perhaps also allegiance. “Those Chinese flags didn’t pop up for no reason,” says Mr. Lee. “China is now an emerging global economic superpower. As such, its reach into Chinatown has grown because people do business in mainland China. And the Chinese government and the consul general here has in the last 10 years been very strategic in courting Chinese-American support.”
