US politicians denounce anti-China talk

Asian-American politicians are calling for other politicians to refrain from using inflammatory rhetoric about China and anti-Asian terms ahead of the US midterm congressional elections.

A report released this month reinforces how such rhetoric has resulted in Asian Americans being blamed for COVID-19, the difficulties besetting the US economy and problems related to national security.

US Representative for California Judy Chu, speaking at an online media briefing on the issue, said politicians need to be careful with their language.

"We need to be deliberate in what and who we criticize. It should be specific to those who are responsible, not broad statements that scapegoat all Chinese people," said Chu, who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Representative Grace Meng from New York told the briefing: "It is really important that we are careful and nuanced with the words that we use."

The report, titled The Blame Game, examines how rhetoric against China has fueled the scapegoating of Asians since the start of the pandemic. It was released by Stop AAPI Hate, an advocacy group that takes its name from the acronym for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The report analyzed 11,467 hate incidents targeting people in this community in the 12 months from March 2021. It found that 20 percent of these incidents were related to language that scapegoated Asians and Asian Americans.

Some 96 percent of the reported scapegoating incidents were related to blame for the pandemic, "the latest in a long history of scapegoating Asians and Asian Americans for public health reasons", according to the report.

In 2020 as the coronavirus swept across the US, president Donald Trump infamously referred to the virus as "kung flu". After Trump tweeted about the "China virus", Twitter hashtags expressing anti-Asian sentiment increased by 174 times, the report said.

"I was on the uptown 6 train between Grand Central and 23rd St. A man said to me, 'Don't stand so close. You brought COVID into this country. I will drag you, your (expletive) husband, and your kids off the train and kill you'," one Asian American in New York said in recounting her experience to Stop AAPI Hate.