We aren't trying to be "white", especially not our generation, but let's not ignore western influences. Western beauty standards have intermingled with asian beauty standards to give us what we have today. We really can't separate it as white and asian anymore.

I want to mainly talk about skin tone.

Whiteness

Asians have always valued pale skin. So have Europeans, for the exact same reasons we list for why Asians prefer pale skin. The rich stayed indoors and the poor toiled the lands yada yada. This is also the case with many other races. This is global.

But could the fact that white people are white make pale skin even more valuable? How does the west's rise in power influence and change how we view pale skin? Is it still just simply a class symbol within the Asian community?

imo largely yes. but the lines can get a little blurred.

I also want to clarify why westerners now have a preference for tanned skin.

First off, paleness is still overall a desirable trait. The top tier western actresses are usually pretty pale. "Snow White", beauty product models/actresses, etc. Unless ads are trying to send a message with tanned skin, pale is still in.

Pro-tan is not due to white people seeing something exotic in darker complexions. It is still very much a western beauty standard stemming from western cultures, specifically America. It is in fact, a class status symbol. Currently the poor are indoors working and the rich go out to play. But this was a natural change in mindset. The west developed this new lifestyle on their own, so that the shift to pro-tan was a natural product of modernization.

Asian countries may be very modernized, but because it was not a natural process, many old traditions remain, and the preference for paleness is one of those.

I got tired and didn't feel like writing more, but I also wanted to touch on facial features such as higher nose bridges/flatter faces, monolids, etc.