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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsChina's love affair with Trump
Even as Chinas government has refused to comment on Trumps diatribes, a survey of both official state media and social media networks reveals that a growing contingent of Chinese believe the moguls potential presidency could actually end up benefiting Chinaperhaps more so than a President Hillary Clinton, whose criticism of the countrys human rights record infuriates Chinese leaders. Some Chinese admire Trumps glitzy businesses, big-name brand and candid personality. Others genuinely think the candidates America First foreign policy positions would give China the upper hand in Sino-American relations and allow more room for China to assert itself on the world stage.,
It didnt start out this way. In the early days of the campaign, government-run news outlets tended to paint Trump as a buffoon or a joke, as Xincheng Shen, a U.S.-based writer for state-managed news site The Paper, told me. But as Trump has racked up more primary wins and asserted his foreign policy positions, Chinas state outlets have grown more receptive. Among layman pundits on Chinese social media, the support has been even stronger. On Weibo, the candidate has inspired popular groups such as Trump Fan Club and Great Man Donald Trump. In a late March poll of 3,330 Global Times readers, 54 percent of respondents said they supported a Trump presidencywell above the roughly 40 percent of Americans who currently do.
Trump is very, very popular among Chinese Internet users, says Kecheng Fang, a former reporter in China who now researches Chinese media at the University of Pennsylvania.
Much of the Trump support in China boils down to his reputation overseas as a shrewd entrepreneuran image that surely resonates with Chinas plutocrats and aspirers. (China today has this obsession with successful businessmen, Shen notes.) Over the past decade, the Trump brand has been making inroads in the Chinese market, with the mogul promoting his Southeast Asia and U.S. luxury hotels specifically to Chinese travelers, in addition to looking for new locations in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai. Trump himself has boasted about doing business with Chinese companies and leasing real estate to Chinese patrons. I do great with China. I sell them condos. I have the largest bank in the world from China, the largest in the world by far, he claimed last week. Theyre a tenant of mine in a building I own in Manhattan.
Beyond just Trumps brand, many Chinese believe his business acumen would translate into political pragmatism on matters of national security and foreign policywhich would play to Chinas advantage. Trump has repeatedly questioned the wisdom of maintaining American military bases and warships in the region, arguing that they cost the United States money while allowing allies like Japan to mooch off American support in their squabbles with China in the East and South China seas. If were attacked, they do not have to come to our defense, Trump told the New York Times in late March. If theyre attacked, we have to come totally to their defense. And that is athats a real problem.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/2016-donald-trump-china-foreign-policy-asia-beijing-213876#ixzz48AnsWpGZ
David__77
(23,511 posts)I don't think that Trump would be guided by a particular universal ideology.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)Populations that dont know and therefore dont value Democracy. Populations that tend to worship strong men and wealthy businessmen. He is perfect for both countries.
At least he is perfect at this point in time. If elected, that would end within 12 months. He'd have to deal with them when they start behaving badly again. Trump has a huge ego, Putin has a huge ego, Xi Jenping may not have a particularly huge ego on his own but collectively the Chinese government operates as an entity with a huge ego and a superiority/inferiority complex. Folks with huge egos and superiority/inferiority complexes do not have good outcomes when they have a conflict of any kind with each other.
tralala
(239 posts)and a superiority/inferiority complex"
Wow I can't make heads or tails of this. Governments can have egos? Better go brush up on my Freud!
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)that the man they'd like as commander in chief of the world's greatest military by far has a serious personality disorder and disordered judgement.
I suspect some at least at the top of their government are calling for analyses of probable effects of cluster B disorders on world leaders and the balance of power. Or how many islands can we build in international waters before he notices and takes it personally?
On the Road
(20,783 posts)but Trump's brand of materialism and bravado is very Chinese. They see much more of a kindred spirit.