When is 'anti-Chinese sentiment' racism?

Courtesy of Baasir Gaisawat

By David A. Tizzard

What's happening in Korea at the moment is real. Statistics and figures will never quite capture the incredibly visceral feeling sweeping through the country as the population directs its anger at China. It's something you see on the news, read on social media, smell on campus and catch at the coffee tables around you. You notice it most when your Chinese friends and colleagues contact you expressing their fears and anxieties about living and working here in the current climate.

I do not have a ground-level view of what the atmosphere is like in China but I can only imagine it is similar, with equally-matched venom being directed at the people of Korea. My Twitter was filled with Chinese people last week seeking to correct me for having the temerity to wish the world a happy Lunar New Year with my bowl of rice-cake soup. It was "Chinese New Year" they exclaimed angrily in 140 characters or less.

There are a great many historical, cultural and political reasons for Korea to be angry at some of the actions carried out by the Chinese Communist Party, particular Chinese organizations, and certain citizens, especially online. These have been documented in great detail elsewhere. More broadly, the talk of Beijing's treatment of the Uighurs, if certain reports are to be believed, are deeply concerning. It's also worth noting that most countries in the region engage in nationalist posturing, using any possible opportunity to assert their own cultural or historical claims and/or superiority irrespective of whether it might antagonize others. Pyongyang is rarely subtle when it champions its autarky and perceived supremacy, but it is not alone in frequently seeking to get one over its neighbors.

Whether a democracy, a single-party communist system, or otherwise, no state is perfect. Many around the world, including my own, have made missteps in the treatment of their own citizens or toward peoples of other nations. Thus, criticism of a state's domestic or foreign policy should be perfectly legitimate and part of respectable conversation. But what happens when the comments turn from evaluating states' actions to sweeping generalizations about whole groups of people?

Reports here will talk about "anti-Chinese sentiment." That feels like a lovely euphemism for something that feels far stronger, however. So where and when, for example, does anti-Chinese sentiment crossover into racism? Does it require a particular severity in the feelings held by an individual? Or is it more easily determined by the number of people that feel such an emotion? Does it only become racism if it manifests in particular words or behavior? Does our definition of racism matter? If racism can be "prejudice, discrimination or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group," then is what we see at the moment not racism? More worryingly, is it not, to a certain extent at least, socially acceptable and reinforced in a top-down manner?

National television stations have provided extended coverage of this issue: one even featured a top 10 of China's biggest sports cheating achievements. Politically, Korea's presidential candidates have not hesitated in weighing in on the issue either. Three of the four did not try to downplay the issue, reduce tensions, or be diplomatic. Instead, they came crashing down on one side of the banner and thus turned even more Korean people against Chinese people. Of course, politicians are human too. They would have no doubt been upset by the decisions in the Olympics, and the continued belligerence. But while we can perhaps understand the emotional release of anger and frustration among the citizens, do we not expect a little more restrain and inward integrity from those in positions of power and influence?

The leaders of the country, the television producers and the narrative-makers, they are all clearly interested in securing and cementing their own positions. It shouldn't come as any surprise that politicians would whip-up anti-foreigner fervor in order to gain power. I think few, however, realize the greatest danger. Once this monster is let out, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to put it back in the bottle. An individual might ride to victory on a wave of xenophobia, cheered on initially by the baying crowds, but what happens when that very same wave comes crashing down, not on the people who it was originally aimed at, but rather on their own houses? That is the real and present danger many societies, not least of all Korea, are currently facing.

I say all of this neither to defend China nor to downplay the many injustices Korean people might rightly feel. But I'm not sure how to best categorize this tangible "anti-Chinese sentiment" that has risen to the surface of Korean society, but I can say that, to me at least, it doesn't feel right.

Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.