in the west.

That is a social and "our world" issue.

This extrapolation has always been one of the things that has never sit well with me about this controversy. It's handled so... Americanly, on a property that was never American, nor set in America, nor English speaking. Full disclosure; I am neither Japanese nor American. Nor white. This is just an observation after reading on both sides for a long while.

It's true that there are specific struggles for Asian American actors in Hollywood getting roles, and it's undeniably fair to speak up when Asian American roles are written away. But there's also the fact that Ghost in the Shell (2017) is an adaptation of a foreign (and foreign language) property. There are barriers to cross regardless of the actors they cast, and the issue is much more complex than to simply solve by "casting an Asian actress" that the majority of those who disagree seem to be demanding. This is no Emma Stone in Aloha or Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Trek Into Darkness. Those roles are written, for the lack of simpler word, culturally American AND English speaking in their respective source material.

In contrast, GitS is set in Japan and all the characters speak Japanese. To work around that and get an English speaking film out of it is to either cast a foreigner and use the foreigner card for The Major (a la Earthquake Bird), which is what they have done, or move the setting to America, or just cast an Asian actress and have her speak English.

That last option is not going to come across well in Japan, and god forbid the shitstorm that will happen if the actress is not of Japanese descent (Memoirs of A Geisha). Or you could be looking at an inconsistent mess like Amazon's The Man in the High Castle. That is not something any film wants when they want to appeal to the motherland. Sure, you could cite Lucy Liu in Kill Bill. But Kill Bill is not a Japanese property like Ghost in the Shell; it did not command the expectations on Japanese portrayals like the latter. Imo, this is another terrible American Hollywood cliche that needs to go, as it enforces English as the "only language that matters" in the world, and by extension, the notion that the world revolves around the US (and by extension, the American notion of "whiteness as default"). The "cast any Asian person and have them speak terrible Japanese, or cast any white person and have them pretend to be German/Russian" trend is, if nothing else, against globalization, and with Netflix giving more power to non-American filmmakers, it only appears more backwards and regressive, despite not being politically incorrect in the US. Even Roland Emmerich got this memo when he made Midway with an authentic Japanese cast and even a separate Chinese supporting cast, and projects like Earthquake Bird got Alicia Vikander to speak fluent Japanese to play an ex-pat. THAT's progressive.

There's also the fact that an English speaking Motoko is an instant betrayal to her usual anti-American Imperialism found in most portrayals that involve the American Empire. So not only will this idea be enforced out-universe as previously mentioned, but also in-universe. In hindsight, Sanders handled the language barrier very well, and the fact that Motoko is forced to used ScarJo's body, if nothing else, feeds into said characterization. In my opinion, Ghost in the Shell deserves creative solutions like this, not to just "pretend they're not speaking English even though you hear English". The end result may not an exploration of all aspects surrounding this, but it is at worst neutral and do not derail any further expansions around it like other options would.

Moving the setting to America is easily the most volatile option, with it being the biggest deviation from the source material In imagining how Imperial America will be culturally after it starting to lapse in its superpower, Asian Americans in-universe will certainly have it very different than in our real world, and perhaps that won't be the representation they are looking for, or the film ends up using a non-Asian cast in the story anyway with their new storyline+setting (a la Death Note), and the filmmakers should not be blamed for opting not to tackle any of that. Worse, if a Batou equivalent is played by a white actor, there's yet another tangent issue about Asian male representation in Hollywood, as Batou and Major would then be yet another WMAF "couple". And even if this worked out well for representation, it still doesn't change the fact that now the setting, on top of story, is going to be a big deviation from the source material. Like Death Note, an Asian American Light Turner is just as big of a deviation from Tokyo-born Light Yagami as if Turner was white.

In the very round table you mentioned, Joan Chen defended this situation, citing the US's previous adaptations of Kurosawa's works, none of which starred Asian actors. Chen mentioned it is important to still reserve creative liberties to the filmmakers when crossing cultural barriers. The rest of the roundtable is about the issue in general, which is fair to discuss, but none of them considered any of Ghost in the Shell's intricacies or its would-be reception in Japan. Likewise, when another trade invited four Japanese actresses to "dissect" it, none of their arguments are Ghost in the Shell specific, and one of the suggestions to "make her Chinese to appeal to China" is even more outlandish, considering the country's in-universe political standings, and as mentioned, worse if they straight up made Motoko Chinese.

This conversation would be rather different had the film came out post-Mulan/Shang-Chi. Chinese reception and Asian American reception over many films have been opposing for a while, with The Farewell bombing in China vs championed in the States, Asian American discourse over Dr. Strange vs China's "blissful" reception, and you know how Shang-Chi's castings went over in China, the latter I also believed would've happened with Mulan, had Liu Yifei not been an A-Lister there. The two sides would've either been even more opposing or have found a middle ground, and a property like Ghost in the Shell, where there's zero bridge between the two contemporary cultures, would have an easier time finding its place. Even then, you have heard many Japanese voices saying the same thing about GitS, about how they'd rather the Major be white and completely foreign, than to have another Asian actress pretending to be Japanese. Pan-Asian identity is a thing in the States, but never in any countries in Asia. When concerning Crazy Rich Asian's success, everyone cites it as the first since The Joy Luck Club and ignores Crouching Tiger or Letters from Iwo Jima. Likewise, CRA and The Farewell has had difficulties resonating with audiences in Asia, so to assume that you can have both with Ghost in the Shell is ideal at best, naive at worst.

Lastly, how certain Japanese creators or fans feel about this should not be disregarded just because an opposing issue on the other side of the world exists. After all, it is their property. Why shouldn't/couldn't they be happy that an A-List actress is cast? If Hollywood always deserve the likes of Sanada Hiroyuki and Kukuchi Rinko when they "import" Japanese-born actors, shouldn't Japan deserve the same calibre for their property? It is not their fault that Hollywood ended up with no A-List Asian actors, so why should their property suddenly not deserve "the best of the best" in the industry just because of Hollywood's own broken systems and its audience who (at least a good portion) rejects anything that's not in English, which in this case means the possibility of their own A-Lister. So is it not an even bigger slap in the face if they were to get a less celebrated actress while being told it's "more correct" by American socio-political standards? Star power casting is an even bigger thing in the Japanese film industry, and I doubt Oshii and Kodansha would be as enthusiastic with a less decorated actress, even if she was Japanese American.

TL;DR, whitewashing is an American, at worst, Western issue. Ghost in the Shell is not, both in-universe and out, and it deserves better than being hanged for an issue with more sides to discuss, where its participation isn't even in-definition of the word whitewashing.