Survey: 1 in 4 in US Have Asian-American Bias

April 26, 2001 -- A national survey released today found a quarter of Americans have a negative bias toward Chinese-Americans and Asian-Americans in what the study's sponsor called a "wake-up call" to everyone who thinks Asian-Americans do not suffer discrimination.

The survey found more Americans were uncomfortable votingfor an Asian-American for president (24 percent of thosesurveyed) than for a candidate who was African-American (15percent), a woman (14 percent) or Jewish (11 percent).

Nearly one half, or 46 percent, of those surveyed felt thatwith Chinese-Americans "passing secrets to the Chinesegovernment is a problem," according to the survey, sponsored bythe Committee of 100, a group of prominent Chinese-Americans.

Thirty-two percent felt Chinese-Americans were more loyalto China than the United States, it said, and 24 percent saidthey would not approve of intermarriage with anAsian-American.

Many Negative Stereotypes

Research and marketing firm Yankelovich Partners, whichconducted the study, determined that overall 25 percent ofthose surveyed had very negative attitudes towardChinese-Americans.

"We always knew there was an element of some negative bias… but we were startled by the results, that the numbers wereas high as they were," said Henry Tang, chairman of theCommittee of 100.

"This has provided conditions for somewhat of a wake-upcall for all of us Americans of Asian heritage. The oft-quotedmodel minority may be model, but it still has many problems,"he told a news conference to release the survey results.

In the Aftermath of Wen Ho Lee

The committee, formed in 1989 to address the concerns ofAmericans of Chinese and Asian heritage and improveSino-American relations, is holding its annual conference inWashington, D.C., to discuss the survey and strains inU.S.-China ties.

It commissioned the survey after recent incidents includingthe jailing of Taiwan-born nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee.

Lee was arrested in December 1999 on 59 counts ofmishandling classified nuclear data. He spent nine months insolitary confinement and was released with an apology from afederal judge who blasted the U.S. government for "embarrassingour entire nation" with spying allegations that were neverproved.

Lee pleaded guilty to one count of downloading nuclearweapons design secrets to a nonsecure computer. The governmentdropped the remaining charges.

Not All Negative

Not all the reactions were negative. The survey showed 91percent of Americans believe Chinese-Americans had strongfamily values, 77 percent said they were honest business peopleand 67 percent said they placed a high value on education.

The Jewish civil rights group, the Anti-Defamation League,collaborated in the survey and an accompanying focus groupstudy by the Marttila Communications Group.

"There is a very volatile potential danger because theanti-Chinese-American, Asian-American attitudes has a mixtureof racial and political presence. And one fuels the other,"said ADL national director Abraham Foxman.

That many people think Chinese-Americans are more loyal toChina than to America is "a very dangerous element becauseincidents way beyond our control can fuel, legitimize and givepseudo-rationale to prejudices," he said.

Survey Taken Before Spy Plane Crisis

The survey was conducted in the first two weeks of March,before U.S.-China relations soured over a U.S. surveillanceplane that collided with a Chinese fighter and landed on HainanIsland earlier this month. The 24-member crew was detained for11 days and China still holds the plane.

The companies that conducted the survey said the numberswould likely not have changed significantly, however. In fact,it was advantageous that the survey was done before the crisisto offer a better look at enduring attitudes, they said.

The survey of 1,216 Americans at least 18 years old, whowere telephoned randomly across the country, found many of theattitudes toward Chinese-Americans were applied toAsian-Americans generally because most non-Asian-Americans didnot differentiate between the two.

To test that theory, the survey asked 1,002 respondentsquestions about Chinese-Americans and the other 214 the samequestions about Asian-Americans, and the results were "nearlyidentical," the statement said.

The margin of error on the 1,002 sample is plus or minus3.1 percent.

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