To prevail in her San Francisco congressional race, Connie Chan, the only major Chinese-American candidate, must win over a good number of the 73,000 or so Chinese American voters in California’s 11th congressional district — about 16 percent of the electorate.
A major factor for them is an island nearly 7,000 miles away: Taiwan.
China-Taiwan relations are tricky for any politician, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez learned this week when her answers on the issue were microscopically scrutinized around the world.
For Chan, the consequences are local. To be too supportive of an assertive U.S. policy that encourages arms sales to Taiwan would be seen by many Chinese voters here as provoking conflict.
The District 1 supervisor seems to have passed that test earlier this month, when she met with three San Francisco Chinese leaders known for having a strong following in the local community: Henry Der, the former California deputy superintendent of public instruction; and retired judges Lillian Sing and Julie Tang.
The meeting allowed Der, Sing and Tang to learn the specifics of Chan’s views — and, in turn, serve as conduits for potentially thousands of local voters for whom this issue is paramount.
The local Chinese community is far from monolithic, but the majority rank maintaining peace with China around Taiwan as a top priority, said Tang.
For many, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s 2022 visit to Taiwan looms large — and is a cautionary tale. The junket was the highest-profile U.S. visit to the island in 25 years, and greatly aggravated the mainland Chinese government. It subsequently encircled the island with unprecedented military exercises.
Der called Pelosi’s trip provocative.
Many people in Taiwan “are happy with the status quo. In other words, it’s ambiguous,” said Der, who opposes authoritarian governments and doesn’t often disagree with Pelosi. Still, he and the retired judges blamed the visit for riling up China.
He, like many in the Asian community here, doesn’t want a war or poor relations with China. Many here prize travel to China and Taiwan, and believe business and commerce between the two are vital.
“We don’t need these military exercises by either side,” he said.
Tang, for her part, was even more alarmed about Pelosi’s visit. “She almost provoked a Third World War,” she said.
Peace, and an internal matter
Chan, the three elders recalled after their Feb. 9 meeting, took a stance that stressed supporting the One-China Policy, which has been an official U.S. policy since the 1970s and remains the mainstream view in Congress.
The policy, which is deliberately vague, recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China while allowing the United States to maintain unofficial relations with Taiwan.
Second, Chan stressed that she is for peace. When the three leaders asked her to elaborate, Der recalled Chan telling them that there should be direct dialogue between China and Taiwan — without the U.S. government dictating the terms and conditions.
This is a notable distinction. Der, Sing and Tang walked away from their meeting with Chan believing her desired policy would be for China-Taiwan relations to be an internal matter between the two governments. This aligns with Beijing’s wishes, but differs from the congressional mainstream.
It also differs from the views of Pelosi and the four current Chinese members of Congress. All support the United States playing a role in China-Taiwan relations, and view arms sales to Taiwan as a means of keeping China in check. Pelosi has been particularly critical of the Chinese government and its human-rights record.
When asked about China policies and her meeting with Der, Sing and Tang, Chan’s campaign released a statement noting that “her focus will be on best representing the interests and priorities of San Francisco, and she will always work for peaceful resolution of conflict.”
While still heavily Chinese, California’s 11th congressional district has fewer Chinese voters than San Francisco writ large, as it excludes Chinese-American enclaves such as the Excelsior, Visitation Valley and Portola.
Still, it includes more than 73,000 Chinese voters, according to political consultant David Ho’s rough estimate, accounting for around 16 percent of its 470,000 voters.
Der, Sing and Tang applauded Chan’s stance, saying it reflected a non-confrontational attitude espoused by many within the Chinese American community. All three subsequently said they would endorse her candidacy.
“What I got out of the conversation,” said Der, “is she doesn’t want the United States to dictate what that dialogue should be between Taiwan and China.”
Chan, for her part, said in a statement that “the U.S. should be an agent for peace and stability, and that will be her guiding principle on foreign policy.”
Political minefield
In a way, China-related issues are, for Chan, similar to what Gaza has been for fellow candidate Sen. Scott Wiener: A political minefield in which the candidate must balance the expectations of core supporters while ensuring their positions withstand broader, even national and international scrutiny.
After receiving significant pushback for declining to answer a question about whether or not Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, Wiener — who is Jewish and has been a supporter of Israel, but a critic of its present leadership — within days shifted to saying, yes, he did think Israel was committing genocide.
Chan, 47, emigrated to the United States at age 13. She was born in Hong Kong and moved to Taiwan at age 5.
That is important to Der, Sing and Tang, who all endorsed Chan in her two successful supervisorial campaigns and will do so again now.
Tang said that, even if Chan did not explicitly say so, her years in Hong Kong, Taiwan and San Francisco’s Chinese community give her “a sense of where the community comes from.”
“She will bring to the table ideas and propositions that are informed by her lived experience,” said Der. “With [peace] as a core issue, all the others will come out okay,” Sing added, saying that she was impressed by Chan’s sincerity.
While a new member of Congress would have limited sway over foreign policy, the fact that Chan is an immigrant from San Francisco means that “people will automatically look to her as to where the Chinese community stands on the China, Taiwan, Hong Kong issues,” said Der.
And, at least for Der, it could help bring down the temperature.
The “‘China is an enemy of the U.S.’ rhetoric by both Democrats and Republicans is very dangerous toward the welfare of Chinese Americans,” he said. “It impacts us.”
‘Tang, for her part, was even more alarmed about Pelosi’s visit. “She almost provoked a Third World War,” she said.’
No she didn’t, stop hyperbolizing.
Perhaps tang has people they care about in those areas so is more sensitive to possible military conflicts? With our current unpredictable president, war with any number of different countries is not an impossibility but I guess we will see.
Not going to be supporting a candidate who is anti-housing!
Seriously, Chan is an awful choice to replace Pelosi. I vastly prefer either Wiener or Chakrabarti over Chan’s hypocrisy. She claims to be a Progressive but, just like her buddy Aaron Peskin, she only cares about wealthy homeowners.
More generally, even in a race for the US House, it is not foreign affairs that are going to drive local voters. it is local issues like housing, education, healthcare, crime and more generally, the US economy.
So all this posturing about Taiwan, Gaza, Ukraine just doesn’t matter. Whoever wins will have zero effect on overseas policy.
More is at stake for Connie Chan than votes. More is at stake for all of us.
The flagrant lawlessness and brutality of the Trump administration abroad and at home is not an aberration. It is of a piece with administrations (at least) going back to President Obama and his “pivot to China”. Trump is merely the manifestation of an economic system in crisis and rotten to the core.
In its attempts to redraw maps and control precious raw materials, (and to prepare for domestic unrest by building up the forces now being directed against immigrants), the Trump administration, backed by the ruling class, is abandoning all pretense of normal bourgeois democracy.
Our local senate race is small potatoes compared to the daily parade of shocking events that the media uncritically accepts with anxious shrugs.
The ruling class requires local “leaders” to help shepherd us into a war against China, part of a new World War which is has already begun in the far-flung theaters of central Europe, the Middle East, and South America.
It was not so long ago that capitalism’s boosters pointed to China’s entrance into world trade as evidence of capitalism’s superiority. They pointed to the fall of the Soviet Union as evidence of the failure of socialism (it was in actual fact suffocated by Stalin and Mao who betrayed workers around the world).
US dominance of world finance is in crisis. Its national debt is now increasing almost a trillion dollars every 3 months.
In spite of being the chief target of Trump’s “beautiful” tariffs, and being beleaguered by growing inequality itself, China has a commanding financial surplus, a monopoly on the processing of key raw materials, and the ability to divide the US from its historical allies.
Much needs to be said, but I have a feeling that bottom line, all the candidates, their party, and the oligarchs that support them, need voters to be misinformed and focused on trivialities.
Although I don’t agree with him on everything, Glenn Greenwald has accurately decried Kellen Brown’s stenography for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the New York Times. Look for it at Substack. The article Mission Local links to is pure propaganda.
I believe workers and youth must abandon any and all support for the parties of war and austerity. The biggest issue in the US and in every county is inequality. The ruling class understands this, and hence its actions. It is time for the working class to understand this and act accordingly.
Congress has exercised zero of its constitutional authority over foreign policy since the disastrous vote on the Iraq invasion in 2003.
Members of the House, especially, are kept as far away from foreign policy as is humanly possible except to serve as cheerleaders to empire.
We need to put our own house in order before we meddle elsewhere. It seems that the evaporation of legitimacy of the ruling class is proceeding apace and that is what took the USSR down.
Ridding politics of the Epstein class and associated oligarchs is the only politics that really matters at this point. That’s why they’re directing their attentions to tangential issues like the culture war and foreign policy.
Remember when the Congress banned Contra Aid? That ain’t gonna happen ever again with this Democrat Party. Given her inability to write significant local legislation and find 6/8 votes to make it real, basic political skills required for the job, ain’t no way that Chan can lead a coalition on Palestine or China.
A correction: I meant to write “Pivot to Asia” earlier. (Not “pivot to China.)
The “Pivot to Asia” (also called the “rebalance” to the Asia‑Pacific) was a comprehensive US strategic policy shift launched under President Barack Obama in large part due to the rise of China as a center of globalized production and cheap labor.
Chan has been a pathetically bad Supervisor for D1 — a veritable lap dog doing Aaron Peskin’s reactionary/anti-housing bidding — and would be catastrophically worse as the CA11 Representative in Congress.
No thanks — time to kick Chan to the curb and end her career in politics.
Scott Wiener, the best legislator in CA, has done an excellent job as both a SF
Supervisor and State Senator and is — hands down — the best choice as our next Representative in DC.
I think they’re both terrible choices, but if I have to choose between the pest and cholera, I suppose Wiener is the more cholera-like option.
Sorry to edge up on Tucker Carlson land here, but what bearing do the interests of Chinese Americans have in US foreign policy relating to the People’s Republic of China and The Republic of China, the considerations of which do not hinge even remotely on such subjective, personal trivialities?
I mean, are Mexican Americans considered in the formulation of US foreign policy to Mexico? Does my opinion as a Jew have any bearing on US policy to Israel? Should it?
Regarding the question AOC flubbed, ML put a very similar question to the candidates (“If Taiwan were to be invaded by China, do you think the U.S. should use force to defend the island?”). Like AOC, Chan shifted to talking points instead of answering the question. She did say she ‘did not oppose’ weapons transfers, which I guess is worded to appease pro-Ukraine intervention liberals while trying not to offend Chinese voters? I have no idea, but it’s weak.
In response to another ML question regarding USAID, Chan responded: “When we provide aid around the globe to support people so that they can be empowered to fight for independence, democracy and power to self-determination, they are safer.” This is textbook ‘peace through power’ rhetoric, basically a tweaked Ronald Reagan quote and the opposite of what is true for Taiwan.
That said, she is the best candidate in my opinion and I wish her good luck. Also, I appreciate ML dipping their toes into foreign policy. Good reporting Yujie.
“ Der, who opposes authoritarian governments”
Clearly this is false and Der supports the totalitarian Chinese government.
Huo Jian – FYI – I was a member of the SF Goddess of Democracy Project. Overcoming the opposition of the Chinese Consulate, the Project won the approval of the SF Board of Supervisors, Rec and Park Commission, and the Arts Commission to place in the Goddess of Democracy statue in Portsmouth Square Park. We worked closely with Nancy Pelosi and others to support democratic values and the right to protest as I continue to join many Americans who oppose the authoritarian policies and actions of the current Administration in D.C.