When Malaysia's former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, proposed the East Asia Caucus, the wits dubbed it Caucus without Caucasians, that being a common term for whites. Mahathir's frenetic objection to Caucasians reflected the other side of the coin of colour prejudice that analysts like Kishore Mahbubani, who dissect East-West relations in exclusively economic or strategic terms, tend to ignore. The complex sells skin lighteners, hair straighteners and eye-straightening operations throughout Afro-Asia and reportedly explains the controversy over two dark IPL cheerleaders.
The Chinese might deride Caucasians as gweilos (foreign devils) but a report from Beijing confirms that far from banishing such obsessions, China's post-revolution high-growth euphoria places an even higher premium on white skin. For instance, a business hasn't really made it until it can boast of American or European shareholders. So the promoters rope in unsuspecting (or, possibly, only too cannily aware) Caucasians to masquerade as investors, naturally for a fee. The outlay is worth it for other Chinese are convinced it must be financially rewarding as well as socially prestigious to tread in the white man's footsteps. The practice came to light recently when a 24-year-old Dutch student, one of several Europeans in a business delegation visiting Sishui in the eastern province of Shandong, spilt the beans. What the whites were paid is not disclosed but they were put up in a first class hotel, given a tour of local sites and paraded as investors.
"We were never told why we were there," the Dutchman said, not very convincingly. "The Chinese contact introduced me to the other foreigners (in the party) as a foreign investor. Everyone in the group knew that none of us was a foreign investor. There were students, diplomats and teachers, but as far as I could see, no foreign investors." I say the Dutchman's explanation was not very convincing because he and his friends must have had a reason for joining the group. Apparently, there are professional agencies to hire whites now that China's economy is booming and local governments are scrambling to attract investment, and a Kuwaiti professor, Hussein Mussallam at Qinghua University, says they are well organised with a database of available Caucasians.
"If they bring in 20 foreigners, they get paid a certain amount. They don't care if you are a businessman or not." Foreigners (only whites, of course) are symbols of commercial legitimacy and social respectability. Reportedly, an American was even asked to pose as a priest at a Chinese wedding. It would have given bride and groom something to talk about for the rest of their lives, placing them a notch above their peers. "White people are an expensive commodity in China," says a sociology professor at Beijing's Renmin University. "It is a glorious thing to show off that you have foreign friends."
The commercial aspect may not be quite so important in India any longer, though time was when nothing was coveted more