‘Happy to provide additional basic facts to you or your staff that I learned in elementary school. Ask anytime,’ California Democrat tells Tom Cotton

Tom Cotton is facing widespread criticism after he asked Singaporean TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew if had “ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party”.

The Arkansas Republican senator pursued the much-ridiculed line of questioning during a Senate hearing on child safety on social media on Wednesday, which was attended by a number of big tech CEOs such as Mr Chew.

“You said today, as you often say, that you live in Singapore – of what nation are you a citizen?” Mr Cotton asked.

“Singapore,” the CEO responded.

  • bustrpoindextr@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “oh yeah Singapore, I get that Singapore Mei fun at the Chinese restaurant all the time, what part of China is Singapore again?”

    • Zess@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I’ll play devil’s advocate. Being Singaporean doesn’t preclude him from having ties to the CCP. Trump is American but clearly has many ties to Russian politics. Whether any of that matters is another question, but the way the article framed this interaction was stupid.

    • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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      9 months ago

      I mean I guess people confuse chinese culture with the People’s Republic of China? Kind of works in the CCP’s favor honestly, because dumb Americans give the PRC ownership of everything chinese, like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

        • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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          9 months ago

          Eh it’s nuanced. HK is theoretically an autonomous region, and is usually treated as a separate country when it comes to passports/computer-databases. But most people don’t understand that nuance and assume HK is mainland China.

          • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            That nuance is pretty thinly veneered isn’t it though? They’ve disappeared a number of people, and did the standard ML authoritarian oppression thing to basically squash all real dissent and protest. Protests now having to be approved, with no face coverings allowed, with numbered identifiable lanyards required to be worn. So they know which door to knock down should you get too spicy.