What the Global Power Shift Means for Asian Americans
By wchung | 22 Feb, 2025

Nothing will change the attitudes of bigots as much as media coverage of Asian wealth and influence over world affairs.

We are witnessing one of history’s great power shifts. I’m not talking about the massive military parade China is putting on for the PRC’s 60th birthday. That’s merely a vaguely ridiculous reminder that China is still an insecure power that needs to prove much to its own people.

I’m talking about the G-7 giving way to the G-20 as the world’s economic directors. Instead of Japan being the lone Asian power, Asia will now be represented by China, Japan, S. Korea, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Turkey. While seven nations among 20 doesn’t quite equal proportional representation, it represents an epochal shift for which we Asian Americans have good reason to rejoice.

Much of the racial prejudice and stereotyping we have faced is founded on the perception that Asians are impoverished aid receivers without the economic influence to help solve the world’s problems. The ignorati who dish out the nastiest prejudices we face see an Asian face and flash on old footsage of starving crowds surrounding food aid trucks. Bigots have amazingly long memories seldom refreshed by recent developments. The ignorati still see Asia as one of the world’s trouble spots rather than the world’s production center. And if they’re literate enough even to consider Asian industry, they picture shiploads dumping cheap toys and sweaters on U.S. shores, not cell phones, luxury cars, LEDs, memory chips and advanced lithium-ion batteries for state-of-the-art plug-in electric cars.

The G-20 is a kind of personalized microcosm of the world. Coverage of its doings puts faces on the various parts of the world. Seeing that many of the leaders of the world’s elite powers are Asian will help obsolete those old images that relegate Asians — in bigoted minds — to the role of supplicants seeking handouts.

As disrespectful as bigots are toward people who look different, they have an astonishing amount of respect for material wealth and perceived legitimacy. Their kneejerk reaction to signs of material wealth is to be cowed into meek submission. Once the G-20 and its doings gain more media currency — as they will in coming months, what with the need to address urgent global economic and climate issues — expect many of those who scorned Asians as human refuse to start kowtowing in hopes of currying favor.