Senator Cotton Questions TikTok CEO Aggression At Hearings
The U.S. Congress also pointed out that he made racist remarks about his alleged Chinese nationality and continued involvement with the Chinese community. TikTok CEO Choo Shou-woo is answering questions about his nationality at a hearing held at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 31. Singapore is being noisy due to untimely controversy over racial discrimination in the U.S. The remarks were made as a U.S. senator asked questions about TikTok’s CEO who has a Singaporean nationality. Some even pointed out that he made the remarks in public. According to the U.S. political media The Hill on Monday, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican, asked TikTok CEO Choo Shou-woo several times, “Is he Chinese or has joined the Communist Party of China?” at a hearing on the “Big Tech and Online Child Exploitation Crisis” by the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 31. He also asked what happened in Tiananmen in 1989. The hearing began with criticism that social networking service providers (SNS) are neglecting child exploitation. Lawmakers of Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and X (formerly Twitter) also focused on the fact that the company is letting go of child violence. In contrast, Choo was asked questions about racial and ideological verification. TikTok, a short video sharing platform, has gained sensational popularity among teenagers in the U.S. and around the world. In particular, there were concerns in the U.S. that TikTok could become a social issue and that user personal information could be transferred to China. The Republican Party called TikTok a “Chinese Communist puppet” and proposed a ban on TikTok, and some states even banned it. TikTok is owned by China’s ByteDance. TikTok chief executive officer Choo Shouws (far left), X (center), and Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg are listening to questions from lawmakers at a Senate hearing on the exploitation of children on social media platforms in Washington, U.S. on June 31. Washington = Reuters Although Choo is from overseas Chinese, he is a Singaporean. He was born and raised in Singapore, he received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the London School of Political Science and Technology and Harvard University, respectively.
Later, he worked for Facebook and the Wall Street Investment Bank. His growth and education level do not have much to do with China.”I am Singaporean and I served in the military in Singapore,” Chu said, drawing a line on his connection with China. When asked about the Tiananmen incident, he replied, “There were mass protests and massacres.” U.S. media explain that Cotton repeated the same question several times afterwards, and Chu also said, “I am Singaporean.” U.S. Senator Tom Cotton held a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in December last year to explain border security issues. Most media outlets say that Cotton’s question was “McCarthy.” Singaporeans did not hide their anger after the hearing was announced. Related articles in the Straight Times, a leading daily newspaper, were followed by comments, “Do you know where Singapore is?” and “Not all of them are Chinese just because they look like Chinese.” Asian communities in the U.S. have also joined the ranks of criticism. The U.S. Congressional Asia-Pacific American Association (CAPAC) issued a statement saying, “It is a very dangerous idea to associate all Asians with the Chinese Communist Party,” adding, “There is no place for such an investigation in the U.S.” The Washington Post criticized Representative Cotton’s questioning method as “McCarthy-esque.” As the controversy grew, Representative Cotton claimed in a Fox News interview that “Singapore is one of the most influential places in the world in penetration and influence of the Communist Party,” but it rather brought about a bigger headwind in the United States. The U.S. Associated Press pointed out that “it is unclear what Senator Cotton’s argument is based on,” while MSNBC pointed out that “Singapore is not a communist country, not all Asians are Chinese, and not everyone is a secret Chinese Communist.”
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
