Wang Tian, center, participates in a rally with other Donald Trump supporters. (Photo/Courtesy of Wang Tian)
Presumptive U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has angered many voters with his divisive comments on immigrants and trade, but has won a small group of unlikely supporters - Chinese Americans. Some young members of this community have rallied together to support Trump, arguing that he is the candidate that will be best for Sino-U.S. relations.
Wang Tian, a Chinese American living Los Angeles, is busy preparing for his upcoming meeting with presumptive Republican presidential nominee, reality TV show star and property tycoon Donald Trump.
Wang founded Chinese Americans for Trump (CAFT) last year, a group dedicated to supporting the candidate. Some of their members who wore "Chinese Americans love Trump" T-shirts to a Trump rally in Southern California last month have even been included in some of his campaign ads.
"Trump is moved by our efforts and agreed to meet us. It is such a big breakthrough!" Wang told the Global Times, adding that this will be the first time that Trump has met with representatives of a Chinese American group on the campaign trail.
Wang hopes that this support will mean reciprocal support if Trump gets into the White House.
"If we don't speak up now, he definitely will not take Chinese Americans into consideration when making future decisions," said Wang.
WeChat movement
CAFT says it has nearly a thousand volunteers across the U.S., with new additions picking up pace after Cruz dropped out and Trump became the de facto nominee. Two weeks ago, the group held their third coordination meeting in a Chinese restaurant in LA.
All wearing T shirts emblazoned with their "Chinese Americans love Trump" slogan and badges describing their position in the group (chairman, first vice-chairman, first-class soldier, professional big fan, ordinary fan), dozens of CAFT members excitedly discussed the Trump campaign.
They discussed topics ranging from setting long-term strategic goals to help Trump become Commander-in-chief, to the next steps in their expansion plan such as establishing chapters in more cities and getting their members to participate in campaign events.
While Wang also set "Chinese Americans meeting Trump within two months" as a goal at the meeting, as reported by sina.com, he did not expect that they would achieve it so soon.
"We hope that through the meeting, Trump will learn more about China. We hope when he makes decisions about China, when he becomes the U.S. president, he will bring to mind, even for a second, that there are Chinese people supporting him too so he can go easy on the Chinese people," Wang told the Global Times Monday, explaining that he expects to meet Trump before the end of May.
How CAFT got to where it is today has a lot to do with WeChat, the main platform the group has used to mobilize potential Trump supporters in the Chinese American community.
The CAFT WeChat group which Wang established after Jeb Bush withdrew from the race looks the same as every other chat group, filled with emojis and digital red envelopes each containing a few cents. Most of its members are either Chinese Americans or Chinese citizens with U.S. residency.
"Don't underestimate WeChat. It is the most effective tool for mobilizing Chinese Americans," said Wang, "Through WeChat, Chinese Americans that support Trump will man their posts."
On May 5, when a news piece was posted in the group describing how Hillary Clinton was asking Chinese Americans to pose for photos with her at a $2700-per-person fundraiser, the team quickly arranged a protest, though Clinton left the scene before they arrived. Then Wang posted the story on his personal WeChat to protest and asked "all Chinese Americans with a conscience" to share the post.
