Heng ah, I am very pro-China!
CloseUp: Three Chinese Singaporeans who call themselves fans of China - at a time when the Asian giant and the US are warring for influence in a multi-dimensional struggle. A think-tank poll found that most Singaporeans view China favourably.
Political Correspondent
20 Mar 2022, 6:00 pm SGT
SINGAPORE - He runs his own tuition business, but Mr Michael Chan's biggest classroom is the website Quora.
There, the 50-year-old father of four has amassed millions of views over nearly a decade of responding to thousands of questions - many of which are about China.
Through posts that explain communism or rebut what he sees as Western media bias against Beijing, he sees his role as helping people better understand China.
This mission to enlighten comes from what he describes as a "pro-China" position - at a time of heightened tensions between the Asian giant and the United States.
He is not alone. According to a Pew Research Centre survey released in June 2021, Mr Chan's favourable view of China is shared by a majority - 64 per cent - of Singaporeans. Singaporeans are the only ones to view China more positively than the US.
In contrast, nearly three-quarters of people in Asia-Pacific view China negatively.
Some sensitivities arise from how such views in Singapore appear to be formed along ethnic lines.
Some 72 per cent of Singapore's Chinese view China positively, compared with 52 per cent of Indians and 45 per cent of Malays.
Beijing's rise in the world order has precipitated a bitter, multi-dimensional rivalry with the US, spanning an information war waged by both sides.
The race to entrench narratives and shape opinions has spilled into Singapore, where online forums are populated with anecdotes of fathers and grandfathers being "self-radicalised" by Chinese propaganda.
In September last year, a French think-tank issued a report identifying Singapore as a natural and particularly vulnerable target for Chinese influence.
For some of the Singaporeans who call themselves pro-China, they trace it to the pride they feel seeing an Asian country's surging technological, economic and cultural progress; accompanied by growing disdain for an America they once admired.
For others, it is about connecting with their ancestral roots in China, and finding a sense of belonging in ethnic identity.
These individuals acknowledge to ST CloseUp a delicate balance between identifying as Chinese and identifying as Singaporean, but they pronounce that the order is clear: Singaporean first, and Singapore's interests first.
CloseUp, an investigative video series, takes a deeper look at issues that hit close to home.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...-singaporeans-and-what-it-means-for-singapore
ST CloseUp: The rise of pro-China Singaporeans and what it means for Singapore
CloseUp: Three Chinese Singaporeans who call themselves fans of China - at a time when the Asian giant and the US are warring for influence in a multi-dimensional struggle. A think-tank poll found that most Singaporeans view China favourably.
Political Correspondent
20 Mar 2022, 6:00 pm SGT
SINGAPORE - He runs his own tuition business, but Mr Michael Chan's biggest classroom is the website Quora.
There, the 50-year-old father of four has amassed millions of views over nearly a decade of responding to thousands of questions - many of which are about China.
Through posts that explain communism or rebut what he sees as Western media bias against Beijing, he sees his role as helping people better understand China.
This mission to enlighten comes from what he describes as a "pro-China" position - at a time of heightened tensions between the Asian giant and the United States.
He is not alone. According to a Pew Research Centre survey released in June 2021, Mr Chan's favourable view of China is shared by a majority - 64 per cent - of Singaporeans. Singaporeans are the only ones to view China more positively than the US.
In contrast, nearly three-quarters of people in Asia-Pacific view China negatively.
Some sensitivities arise from how such views in Singapore appear to be formed along ethnic lines.
Some 72 per cent of Singapore's Chinese view China positively, compared with 52 per cent of Indians and 45 per cent of Malays.
Beijing's rise in the world order has precipitated a bitter, multi-dimensional rivalry with the US, spanning an information war waged by both sides.
The race to entrench narratives and shape opinions has spilled into Singapore, where online forums are populated with anecdotes of fathers and grandfathers being "self-radicalised" by Chinese propaganda.
In September last year, a French think-tank issued a report identifying Singapore as a natural and particularly vulnerable target for Chinese influence.
For some of the Singaporeans who call themselves pro-China, they trace it to the pride they feel seeing an Asian country's surging technological, economic and cultural progress; accompanied by growing disdain for an America they once admired.
For others, it is about connecting with their ancestral roots in China, and finding a sense of belonging in ethnic identity.
These individuals acknowledge to ST CloseUp a delicate balance between identifying as Chinese and identifying as Singaporean, but they pronounce that the order is clear: Singaporean first, and Singapore's interests first.
CloseUp, an investigative video series, takes a deeper look at issues that hit close to home.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...-singaporeans-and-what-it-means-for-singapore
