Is racism on the rise in the West?

05:50

Editor's note : China is mobilizing the whole society to combat the COVID-19. What are the challenges in this fight? Why are some Westerners obstinate in anti-China sentiments? How will this affect China-West relations? What's the solution? CGTN's Liu Jianxi talked with Zheng Yongnian, professor at the National University of Singapore and director of CCG Academic Council, on these issues. Here is the second part of the interview. The article reflects the expert's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

CGTN: The

Wall Street Journal

published an article titled "China is the Real Sick Man of Asia." Do you see signs of rising anti-China sentiment in the West?

**Zheng: **Racists in America and Europe are targeting not only Chinese, but all Asians. We're not the only ones who picked up on this. Western media also did, including mainstream media in America. The sentiment is running even higher.

But, to be fair, not all Westerners think the same way. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in China, many Westerners have shown sympathy and support for China in various ways.

Admittedly, it is true that racism in the West, especially against Asians and Chinese, is deep-rooted. There is no tradition of racism in China. There's no such thing in China over thousands of years.

However, racism is entrenched in Western traditions. Many people apply Darwin's "Theory of Evolution" to human societies and races, so the theory of "white evolution" came into being in the West.

At the time, Western countries exceeded other countries thanks to the Industrial Revolution. The combination of all these factors produced the theory of "white supremacy".

In modern times, especially after the Second World War, this theory was widely criticized. In fact, for a long time in the U.S., a country with multiple races including African Americans and others, it has been politically incorrect to talk about this theory since the Second World War till the 1970s and 1980s.

But the idea is always there, deeply rooted in their minds and culture. When something like this epidemic takes place, this thing of racism comes out of the box. It is not surprising at all because the idea is never entirely abandoned.

I think the

Wall Street Journal

article is a manifestation of the entrenched white supremacy. Countless viruses also originated in the West. Viruses know no borders and the current virus could have originated in any other country with any other political system.

The human history is a history of fighting viruses. Many viruses started in the West and other countries, but why was there no racist discrimination against them? We didn't label the influenza viruses that originated in America a few years ago as "white viruses." Therefore, it is clear that Westerners have a deep-rooted cultural tradition of relating viruses to cultures, civilizations and political systems.

If you take a closer look, the theory makes no sense. Their theory is rather simplistic: the virus started in China, so it is a Chinese virus, an Asian virus, and it spreads to other places.

It has impacted not only the lives of Chinese living in Western countries, but the lives of Asian Americans. If we don't pay attention to this, there will be consequences in the future not only on foreign policies but also on people's lives.

**CGTN: **Do you believe racist sentiments of white supremacy are on the rise? What's the way out?

Zheng: Racism and the theory of "clash of civilizations" will not disappear overnight. They are part of their cultural theory, which is deep-rooted. With new developments of globalization and social media, there will be more tourism and more interactions and when different races become more integrated as a result, it will be viable to contain the theory given a long period of time.

I don't think it will disappear, but it can be managed. More importantly, it is the development of industrialization that has enabled Western civilizations to flourish since modern times and the West has enjoyed advantages ever since, so the theory has been reinforced.

Suppose that the Chinese civilization has risen, India civilization has risen, and all other civilizations have risen, or all different civilizations can rise, it is only then that people will truly believe that there are more than one god in the world and that it is an era when multiple gods coexist.

In fact, the rise of racist sentiments in the West now is also a response to the rise of other civilizations, such as the Chinese civilization.

The West feels that it is being challenged. With the rise of other countries and related civilizations, such as India, Russia, China and Indonesia, people will gradually accept the idea that this is a pluralistic world in which different gods coexist and that no civilization is superior to another, for each civilization has both strengths and weaknesses. That's why all of them should coexist peacefully and learn from each other.

COVID-19 fight is scientific not political

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