x***2 发帖数: 946 | 1 http://kuow.org/post/trump-win-could-help-china-s-why-banner-flew-over-seattle
A study released last month suggested that Asian-American voters including
Chinese Americans are gravitating toward the Democratic party and hold
unfavorable views of Republican candidate Donald Trump. But Trump has his
fans among Chinese people at home and abroad.
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You might not expect him to be popular in China or among Chinese-Americans
in the U.S., given the candidate's many comments about China draining away
American money and jobs. And yet on Friday, an airplane flew over Seattle
with the banner, “Washington Chinese Americans for Trump.” One Trump
supporter in Los Angeles founded the group, Chinese Americans for Trump.
John Pomfret, the former Washington Post bureau chief in China, said there’
s a lot of pro-Trump talk in China and among Chinese-Americans.
“There’s a very active debate within the American Chinese community, as
witnessed by that banner on the airplane that just buzzed your office," he
said, "and also within China, on ‘WeChat’ and ‘Weibo,’ two social media
platforms which are very popular among Chinese.”
Pomfret said in China, there’s a certain nostalgia for what he terms “the
big political man,” a character that Trump inhabits well. And he said, “in
China, there’s no love lost for Hillary Clinton. Partially because in a
way, Clinton regained her political mojo in China in 1995 during the
International Women’s Conference.”
That’s where Clinton pointedly criticized China’s treatment of girls and
said, "women's rights are human rights." She’s seen as a hawk on China and
an experienced negotiator. Meanwhile Trump’s perceived isolationism would
create more room for Chinese leadership to expand. “And so there’s kind of
this sense – almost this gleeful sense – that if the Americans elect this
guy, China will really be the beneficiary," Pomfret said.
At the University of Washington campus in Seattle, canopies line Red Square
with tables for various Asian student groups. One of them is the Chinese
Students and Scholars Association, where senior Haoyu Wang is a member. He's
majoring in political science and plans to attend law school in the U.S. as
well.
Wang feels some of that glee at the prospect of a Trump presidency. “We don
’t like Trump as a person, but we like him as a tool to kind of bring
American down," Wang said.
He said his views aren’t necessarily typical of his peers at UW. Many
students he knows, both Asian and non-Asian, are supporting Clinton, who
Wang sees as tough and experienced. But Wang wants to make his career in
China, and he thinks a Trump victory would be good for his home country,
which is already on the rise.
“We turned the tables," he said. "So more and more of us, international
Chinese students, would like to obtain certain knowledge in the United
States and try to go back and serve our country.”
But he said, "there's a huge division among Chinese students." Perhaps a
third of those students he knows hope to stay on in the U.S. after college.
Wang said his support for Trump verges on being sarcastic. But his
excitement about what the future holds for him in China is quite sincere. |
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