Reaching out to the 400,000 strong Chinese community

By Sonny Leong

The first recorded Chinese in Britain, Shen Fu Tsong, arrived at the court of James II in 1686. Little did he know then that by 2010 400,000 people of Chinese origin would follow in his footsteps and call Britain home. Today, over 300 years later, there is a vibrant Chinese community in this coutry, successfully integrated in mainstream society.

Of course British Chinese are not a homogeneous group. They are peoples with diverse origins and cultural backgrounds, originally from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia and from mainland China itself. I myself arrived in Britain from Malaysia some thirty years ago. In that time, I’ve attended school and university, married and established my law publishing business. As Chair of Chinese for Labour I am proud to now be working to raise the profile of Chinese people in British politics. 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 – so it’s a profile that still needs to be raised. There are no Chinese Members of Parliament, only a handful of local councillors, and few decision-makers in high places. In 2008 a survey of English local authority councillors found four Chinese out of a total of 18,808 respondents from all backgrounds. None were Labour Chinese councillors. The equivalent survey found two Chinese councillors in 2004 and 5 in 2006. Of 29,270 magistrates in England and Wales at April 1st 2009, 49 gave their ethnic origin as Chinese – 0.16% of all magistrates in England & Wales. Figures were not available from the Public Appointments Commission for the number of Chinese appointed to National Public Appointments – I fear there may well be none.

Likewise, the number of Chinese awarded honours tor outstanding services in the last few years amount to no more than 100. This is pathetically low compared to the other minority groups. Unsung heroes and unselfish acts of community service are simply not being publicly recognised. Similarly, Chinese entrepreneurs are employing thousands and contributing billions to the UK economy – again with little public recognition. The 2010 New Year’s Honours List had only one Chinese on the list.

This lack of cultural visibility and political voice has led to the start of a conversation within the Chinese community over recent years. 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 clearly 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? And where are the community leaders stepping forward and leading the charge? I think that it is not so much a shortage of qualified and capable people as the wide geographical spread of the population. This relatively thin spread throughout the UK does not offer much opportunity for meeting and unity that can stimulate social and political movement.

Simply asking these questions and exploring the issues raised is clearly a start, but what is to be done, what does the Labour Party need to do and where do we go from here?

To be clear, I am not suggesting for one moment the Chinese community should be a case for special treatment. But I do think that the Labour Party should recognise that the Chinese Community 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 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 (NEC) 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. It is a term that alienates many. We need to discover a better, more specific vocabulary.

But 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 local parties can reach the Chinese voters in their CLP.

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 a first Chinese MP to Westminster.

If Labour is to continue to be seen as a party for all, we must do something now about the invisibility of the Chinese community. If we don’t, then we may well come to regret it later.

An abridged version of this article was published in the February issue of Progress magazine.