Dissertation

The Rise of China and Anti-Asian Racism in the United States

My dissertation examines the role of anti-Asian racism in contemporary U.S.-China relations with a focus on American public opinion on China. Building on theories of American racial hierarchy and Asian American politics, I first propose a new quantitative measure of anti-Asian sentiments in the United States, the Asian American Resentment (AAR) scale. Utilizing public opinion surveys, survey experiments, and text analyses, I empirically test the relationship between anti-Asian racial resentment and Americans’ views toward China and U.S. China policy. I also examine the central role such racial attitudes play in shaping American public opinion on international trade and economic relations with China. I then shift my focus to the effects of anti-China political rhetoric on growing anti-Asian sentiments across the United States and the racialization of public views toward China. My dissertation contributes to advancing scholarly discussions on the increasingly salient yet overlooked racial dimension of contemporary Sino-American relations and the role of anti-Asian racism in shaping American mass political attitudes.