We have discussed American Dream and Chinese Dream before, generally from a historical perspective. After witnessing a couple of unusual elections last year that brought in a new administration in the United States and that of Taiwan government, we witnessed some policy changes impacting Americans and Chinese people. Amazingly, in a short period of time, these changes have shaken the core beliefs of the people, especially the value system of immigrants. This prompts me to talk about the 'Dream' topic again. People's dream is an important concept defining a nation's destiny and people's life goals; it is a topic deserving our attention.
People take for granted that the United States is a country of immigrants. Surely, since the arrival of May Flower from England, North America has become the land of immigrants, though mostly from Europe. The blacks from Africa were imported in as slaves and the Asians, mostly the Chinese, were admitted as coolies. To Americans’ credit, the US revolution gained total independence and established a constitution-based government system. This political system gradually, over two centuries, abolished the discriminative laws against the blacks, the Asians, the Mexicans and the South Americans. In 20th century, the U.S. benefitted from a systematic immigration policy achieving the world’s no. 1 economy and a superpower status leading the world. Up to the end of 20th century, the U.S. is considered a dream country of immigrants. All Americans, including old and new generations of immigrants, cherish the American Dream - in the land of opportunities, Americans can do anything and fulfill everyone's dream, from having a happy life to becoming the US President.
Entering 21st century, the world has changed, many nations rise economically. The globe has become more integrated in commerce, communication and culture (3C) and yet more competitive (4th C), pursuing multiple dreams - Chinese Dreams, Indian Dream, Brazilian Dream, European Dream, African Dream, etc..... In contrast, the American Dream has visibly lost some luster as her internal problems of decaying infrastructure, shrinking industrial base, mounting national debts and budget deficit for decades. This stress and pain created a movement and phenomenon resulting in the victory of Trump's presidential campaign, characterized by the slogan, "make America great again". Trump's new Administration, considering their campaign slogan as their mandate, proceeded to define a new American Dream - a dream where new immigrants are discriminated and future immigrants are shut out.
Since Trump's inauguration, he has issued a number of executive orders. His order banning Muslims entering the U.S. from seven Muslim countries (affecting foreign workers and international students entering the U.S.) and his plan to overhaul the immigration law: i). restrictions on H1-B visa (which allow US corporations to hire foreign talents), ii). new rules on issuing green card (permanent resident status) and iii). limiting immigrants receiving welfare benefits, are destroying the traditional American Dream. Based on the above actions and Trump Administration's philosophy of making America great again at the expense of immigrants and other nations, there is no rosy picture for the new American Dream, at least from immigrants' perspective. We seriously doubt that this new American Dream can make America great again.
Another election in 2016 produced a overwhelming victory for Ms Tsai Yin Wen, leader of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan. Her victory did not produce any mandate because she got elected by pledging to stay the course regarding cross straight relation but reneged her promise by leaning towards promoting separation from Mainland China and more dependence on Japan and the U.S. The people in Taiwan can also be considered as immigrants in the same sense as Americans in the U.S. The Taiwan aborigines were nearly wiped out by the Dutch and Japanese during their intermittent occupation in 17-18th and 19-20th centuries respectively. Chinese immigration to the island originated long before 15th century (Ming Dynasty). These Chinese immigrants are the old generation of immigrants in Taiwan (majority, like the white immigrants in the U.S.). The Japanese immigrants to Taiwan during the 50 years of Japanese occupation (1895-1945) and their descendants are a minority even less than the new Chinese immigrants from Mainland after WW II (post 1945) and their descendants.
The Chinese Dream was quite modest because the Chinese suffered nearly two centuries of atrocities from foreign aggression and invasions; they simply desire to have a stable government without foreign power interference permitting them to pursue a peaceful modest life. The Chinese Dream is shared by the Chinese people in Mainland and Taiwan; they separately pursued economic development despite of their different governments being ally of Russia and the U.S. respectively. Fortunately, the two sides never waged war or any serious battle hence allowing them to fulfill their Chinese Dream. Taiwan developed faster and brought prosperity to the islanders sooner than Mainland did owing to a big task of lifting a huge population from poverty. However, with diligence, the Chinese mainlanders persistently pursued their Chinese Dream. Today, the Mainland China has raised her economy on par with that of the U.S. and has made Taiwan's economy dependent on the Mainland.
The Chinese Dream like American Dream are more economically oriented, however, there is a political element. The political element in the American Dream is the American Exceptionalism applied to foreign affairs and international relations. This aspect of American Dream may also change because of Trump's redefinition of American Exceptionalism, a new NATO policy (EU and Russia) and Asia policy (China and Japan). The political element in the Chinese Dream is Unity applied to sovereignty and foreign diplomacy. China has relentlessly pledged that she will rise peacefully and rigorously defend the One China policy. Therefore, the Chinese Dream including both the economic and political element (Unity) will be pursued by the Chinese people.
Any challenge to the Chinese Dream from other big nations or China's competitive neighbors is carefully handled diplomatically by China by repudiating the 'China Threat' theory and by proposing Win-Win international development programs such as the One Belt and One Route (OBOR). However, Tsai's election victory in Taiwan and her policies since her inauguration on 5-20-2016, surprised many Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan strait and posted a challenge to Chinese Dream. Her continued effort in 'distancing China' through textbook revision, manipulating media, unfriendly to Mainland tourists, shifting away economic dependence on China and pro-Japan diplomatic actions (allowing nuclear radiation contaminated food import from Japan) have awakened some of the majority immigrants in Taiwan and the mainlanders. More Chinese in Taiwan are participating in anti-Tsai protests and many mainlanders are becoming vocal and urging the government to use military force to unite with Taiwan. It seems that the division between the long-generations immigrants and recent-generations immigrants from Mainland are uniting and the division between the pro-Japan immigrants (affiliated with Japanese occupation) and the rest of immigrants are widening. China seems to be quite secure and Tsai’s plots seem to be backfiring. Therefore, we may predict that the Chinese Dream shared by Chinese not only in Mainland, Taiwan but also worldwide has a rosy picture ahead.
People take for granted that the United States is a country of immigrants. Surely, since the arrival of May Flower from England, North America has become the land of immigrants, though mostly from Europe. The blacks from Africa were imported in as slaves and the Asians, mostly the Chinese, were admitted as coolies. To Americans’ credit, the US revolution gained total independence and established a constitution-based government system. This political system gradually, over two centuries, abolished the discriminative laws against the blacks, the Asians, the Mexicans and the South Americans. In 20th century, the U.S. benefitted from a systematic immigration policy achieving the world’s no. 1 economy and a superpower status leading the world. Up to the end of 20th century, the U.S. is considered a dream country of immigrants. All Americans, including old and new generations of immigrants, cherish the American Dream - in the land of opportunities, Americans can do anything and fulfill everyone's dream, from having a happy life to becoming the US President.
Entering 21st century, the world has changed, many nations rise economically. The globe has become more integrated in commerce, communication and culture (3C) and yet more competitive (4th C), pursuing multiple dreams - Chinese Dreams, Indian Dream, Brazilian Dream, European Dream, African Dream, etc..... In contrast, the American Dream has visibly lost some luster as her internal problems of decaying infrastructure, shrinking industrial base, mounting national debts and budget deficit for decades. This stress and pain created a movement and phenomenon resulting in the victory of Trump's presidential campaign, characterized by the slogan, "make America great again". Trump's new Administration, considering their campaign slogan as their mandate, proceeded to define a new American Dream - a dream where new immigrants are discriminated and future immigrants are shut out.
Since Trump's inauguration, he has issued a number of executive orders. His order banning Muslims entering the U.S. from seven Muslim countries (affecting foreign workers and international students entering the U.S.) and his plan to overhaul the immigration law: i). restrictions on H1-B visa (which allow US corporations to hire foreign talents), ii). new rules on issuing green card (permanent resident status) and iii). limiting immigrants receiving welfare benefits, are destroying the traditional American Dream. Based on the above actions and Trump Administration's philosophy of making America great again at the expense of immigrants and other nations, there is no rosy picture for the new American Dream, at least from immigrants' perspective. We seriously doubt that this new American Dream can make America great again.
Another election in 2016 produced a overwhelming victory for Ms Tsai Yin Wen, leader of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan. Her victory did not produce any mandate because she got elected by pledging to stay the course regarding cross straight relation but reneged her promise by leaning towards promoting separation from Mainland China and more dependence on Japan and the U.S. The people in Taiwan can also be considered as immigrants in the same sense as Americans in the U.S. The Taiwan aborigines were nearly wiped out by the Dutch and Japanese during their intermittent occupation in 17-18th and 19-20th centuries respectively. Chinese immigration to the island originated long before 15th century (Ming Dynasty). These Chinese immigrants are the old generation of immigrants in Taiwan (majority, like the white immigrants in the U.S.). The Japanese immigrants to Taiwan during the 50 years of Japanese occupation (1895-1945) and their descendants are a minority even less than the new Chinese immigrants from Mainland after WW II (post 1945) and their descendants.
The Chinese Dream was quite modest because the Chinese suffered nearly two centuries of atrocities from foreign aggression and invasions; they simply desire to have a stable government without foreign power interference permitting them to pursue a peaceful modest life. The Chinese Dream is shared by the Chinese people in Mainland and Taiwan; they separately pursued economic development despite of their different governments being ally of Russia and the U.S. respectively. Fortunately, the two sides never waged war or any serious battle hence allowing them to fulfill their Chinese Dream. Taiwan developed faster and brought prosperity to the islanders sooner than Mainland did owing to a big task of lifting a huge population from poverty. However, with diligence, the Chinese mainlanders persistently pursued their Chinese Dream. Today, the Mainland China has raised her economy on par with that of the U.S. and has made Taiwan's economy dependent on the Mainland.
The Chinese Dream like American Dream are more economically oriented, however, there is a political element. The political element in the American Dream is the American Exceptionalism applied to foreign affairs and international relations. This aspect of American Dream may also change because of Trump's redefinition of American Exceptionalism, a new NATO policy (EU and Russia) and Asia policy (China and Japan). The political element in the Chinese Dream is Unity applied to sovereignty and foreign diplomacy. China has relentlessly pledged that she will rise peacefully and rigorously defend the One China policy. Therefore, the Chinese Dream including both the economic and political element (Unity) will be pursued by the Chinese people.
Any challenge to the Chinese Dream from other big nations or China's competitive neighbors is carefully handled diplomatically by China by repudiating the 'China Threat' theory and by proposing Win-Win international development programs such as the One Belt and One Route (OBOR). However, Tsai's election victory in Taiwan and her policies since her inauguration on 5-20-2016, surprised many Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan strait and posted a challenge to Chinese Dream. Her continued effort in 'distancing China' through textbook revision, manipulating media, unfriendly to Mainland tourists, shifting away economic dependence on China and pro-Japan diplomatic actions (allowing nuclear radiation contaminated food import from Japan) have awakened some of the majority immigrants in Taiwan and the mainlanders. More Chinese in Taiwan are participating in anti-Tsai protests and many mainlanders are becoming vocal and urging the government to use military force to unite with Taiwan. It seems that the division between the long-generations immigrants and recent-generations immigrants from Mainland are uniting and the division between the pro-Japan immigrants (affiliated with Japanese occupation) and the rest of immigrants are widening. China seems to be quite secure and Tsai’s plots seem to be backfiring. Therefore, we may predict that the Chinese Dream shared by Chinese not only in Mainland, Taiwan but also worldwide has a rosy picture ahead.
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