Week 2 - Christopher Myers

In the introduction to Evelyn Hu-DeHart’s book, Across the Pacific: Asian Americans and Globalization, the reader is presented with some fascinating perspectives of the Asian American’s role in the relationship between the free world and the pacific rim, both domestically and abroad. Domestically, there’s a lot of work that still has to be accomplished in terms of influencing foreign policy. We see a lot of white males making decisions on middle eastern policy and representing the United States as ambassadors in countries that are not predominantly white. At the same time, there is a certain danger in Asian Americans influencing foreign policy because, as with all races, there are a few bad seeds that care more about profit than people. The exploitation of the poor in one’s homeland is a prime example of this. Internationally, one can see parallels between Gary Locke visiting China and President Obama visiting Kenya as they are both seen as successes in their “homeland” and bridge builders, a role that some believe Asian Americans should take on. As with the domestic perspective, there has to be some caution in how much trust we put into these individuals. For example, the North American Free Trade Agreement ended up exploiting the poor and we are seeing this possibly happening once again with the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Ultimately, I think Asian Americans should continue to strive for a voice in foreign policy because I am optimistic that selfless individuals will outnumber the selfish ones.

We are beginning to see a lot more focus on Africa these days in conferences such as the World Economic Forum but it seems like behind all the talk of aiding the African countries economically, there is an agenda to profit off the exploitation of the poor in Africa just like American corporations currently do in China. What can we do to prevent this abuse from reaching full-blown proportions in the early stages of African globalization?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-shocking-conditions-inside-chinas-brutal-foxconn-factory-2010-5

Source: Hu-DeHart, Evelyn. “Across the Pacific: Asian Americans and Globalization.”