CRI听力:Minority Identity no longer a Trump Card for Chinese American Politicians

Chinese community leader Zhao Wensheng has been living in New York's China Town for 40 years.

As a first-generation immigrant from Hong Kong, Zhao says new Chinese immigrants are changing the political landscape of his community.

A recent study jointly conducted by the National Council of Chinese Americans and the University of Maryland reveals that the Chinese American population in the US has reached more than 3.6 million. That makes up around 1.2 percent of the country's population.

Edwin Lee was sworn in last month as the first Chinese mayor of San Francisco, home to North America's largest Asian population.

"I have been a civil rights attorney in San Francisco working on behalf of the Asian community for many years before I started my 22-year career in government. I am extremely proud of our community for their very, very high level of support. And I clearly understand the history of people from China who immigrated here including my parents and so many generations."

Gilbert Wong is the mayor of Cupertino, a small city sitting in the heartland of California's Silicon Valley. He shares a similar political career with his counterpart in San Francisco.

"...as we've seen more second and third generation Chinese Americans, their English skills are very good, are kind of expanding our horizon. English is their first language. We are simulating into the US culture and we feel comfortable of getting involved into public policy. I was more involved into civil rights, making sure Chinese Americans and Asian Americans not getting discriminated."

Two out of three Cupertino residents are Asian American; most of whom came from China.

Gilbert Wong says real achievements in dealing with community affairs provides the key to winning solid support.

"There is a lot of budget money that we can determine, and it is really important for Chinese Americans to have a seat at the table, maybe something as having table tennis or badminton, which is important sports for Chinese Americans. Maybe to another segment of community, for example the Indian community, and when they came to Cupertino, they want to have a cricket field, as investment to our community and our children and help open diversity to our community."

In the following decade, the Chinese community is expected to take over that of Jewish community in terms of size, to become the third largest migration group in the United States.

Yet, it is not surprising to learn that Chinese identity alone is unable to guarantee political clout for the Chinese community's political hopefuls.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi.