Following the controversial call between Donald Trump and Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen, some of the former’s Chinese-American supporters began expressing their doubts.
The call, the first between a U.S. president or president-elect since 1979, broke the “One China” policy. Trump initiated the conversation.
The Chinese were so furious that a state-run newspaper urged Beijing to “recover Taiwan by force.”
Now, some of Trump’s Chinese-American supporters doubt their position. More were silent and cautious. Long Liu, a lawyer whose firm serves clients in a Chinese community, told the Orange County Register:
“Before the election … there were newspaper articles saying that he would be good for China. There were groups of Chinese people for Trump who bought billboards. It had an impact. There were a lot of Chinese people who ended up voting for Trump.”
“After the phone call, it was like all of those people, all of those articles, magically disappeared. No one talks about him anymore,” Liu said.
David Wang, founder of Chinese Americans for Trump (CAFT), admitted to blocking “the bad stuff” coming from the president-elect:
“We try to block the bad stuff Trump says about China. To be honest, I think he’s just testing the waters.”
He added, “Being Chinese American, you are always in the awkward position of deciding who you are loyal to.”
Whatever comes from the historic call remains to be seen. But with more Taiwanese embracing their own identity and Trump dissing China, it may not be a difficult guess.
