Britain’s long-established Chinese population is often held to be among the most successful ethnic minority communities, with high levels of economic and educational achievement. Yet apart from the presenter of How to Look Good Naked, and the occasional reality television contestant, the relative success of the British Chinese has yet to be reflected in the nation’s public life. There are no Chinese MPs, only a handful of local councillors and few decisionmakers in high places.
In 2008, a survey of English local authority councillors found four Chinese out of a total of 18,808 respondents of all backgrounds. None were Labour Chinese councillors. The equivalent survey found two Chinese councillors in 2004 and five in 2006. Of 29,270 magistrates in England and Wales at 1 April 2009, 49 gave their ethnic origin as Chinese – 0.16% of all magistrates in England and Wales.
This lack of cultural visibility and political voice has led, over recent years, to the start of a conversation within the Chinese community. We have had a long hard look at ourselves and have not shied away from asking some difficult and uncomfortable questions. For instance, why is it that the government’s 2006 Citizenship Survey indicates that Chinese people in Britain are less likely to be volunteers than other ethnic groups, and the Electoral Commission found that they have very low voter registration?
Answering these questions is not easy. The reality is that the reasons why the Chinese community has been in the backstage of public life are complex and diverse. Maybe it is because of their reserved nature in perceived host-guest environments? Or maybe it is because they are too busy with their lives earning a living or making advances in their spheres of work and in their social structure? Or worse, an ingrained fear of persecution by the authorities?
I am not suggesting for one moment the Chinese community should be a case for special treatment, but Labour should recognise that it is pushing for its voice to be heard on a political level in the country.
In the same way that the Chinese community has asked difficult questions of itself, the Labour party should do likewise. The party’s Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) Forum, set up in 2007, rightly seeks to empower ethnic minority members within the party and campaigns for greater representation of ethnic minority communities in public life. To date, there is no Chinese representation on its executive committee – this has to be addressed. Also, there is no Chinese representation on the National Executive Committee or the National Policy Forum. If Labour is serious about inclusivity and reducing under-representation in parliament, we have to be at the table.
There are also some simple practical things that can be done quickly. For instance, we should move away from using the generic ‘Asian’ in all advocacy and communications. The vocabulary has the effect of bringing down the shutters and alienates the Chinese community because to them ‘Asian’ means people from the Indian subcontinent. We need to discover a better vocabulary to encompass all.
And we are not sitting idly by, carping at the sidelines. Chinese for Labour works actively to promote the party in the Chinese community. At the annual conference in Brighton we launched our campaign toolkit in preparation for the forthcoming general election. The toolkit sets out practical ways that CLPs can reach Chinese voters in their area. Techniques include using the Chinese media, youth groups, business leaders, community centres and associations, and churches. In addition, using our local networks, come the general election our members will be working with marginal constituencies throughout the UK in getting out the Chinese votes.
Labour was the first party to embrace black and Asian parliamentarians. If we are not careful, at the next general election we may lose ground to the other two parties in sending the first Chinese MP to Westminster.