Some Beijing residents comment on Trump’s visit to China

World Today

President Donald Trump, center left, first lady Melania Trump, left, accompanied by Chinese President Xi Jinping, center right, and his wife Peng Liyuan, right, arrive for opera performance at the Forbidden City, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017, in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval ratings may be sinking in the U.S., but Chinese social media traffic indicates he is one popular guy in China.

According to a Reuters report, Trump’s free-wheeling, politically incorrect style has won him a lot of Chinese fans— unlike back home.

Hear what people in Beijing have to say about Trump’s visit

A new Washington Post/ABC News interactive poll shows that fewer than 37 percent of Americans approve his job performance.

There is no such survey on this side of the Pacific, but in Chinese social media Trump has die-hard fans as ardent as his base in Pennsylvania’s coal towns.

CGTN’s White House Correspondent Jessica Stone hit the streets of Beijing to hear for herself what people are saying about Trump.

Vicky Lang works for a U.S. consumer goods company in Beijing. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to have him here,” said Lang. “If the political environment is friendly, we would love to see that. And, of course, we ship great products. So, we hope people love that.”

On Trump’s repeated criticism of the $347 billion China-U.S. trade deficit, she said her company has been taking steps to address that. “We’ve moved some factories back to the U.S,” she said.

Andrew Sia is in IT. He has worked for major Chinese tech giants such as Baidu. “I think this meeting will improve our relationships a lot,” said Sia. “I was a senior software engineer for big Chinese Internet company. Baidu has some centers in the U.S.A. We’ll get more job opportunities in the U.S.A.”

Snow Zhou addressed our questions in Mandarin. Through a translator, he said, “It’s a good step for developing the China-U.S. relationship. Zhou says he hopes that this visit can change the public opinion towards Trump. “Trump’s behavior is very interesting,” he said. “I think it’s good for China and U.S. president to meet with each other.”

“They are two big countries. I think they need to talk about how they should cooperate in the future,” said Jacob Zhou in English.

On China-U.S. coordination over the Korean nuclear issue, Zhou said: “North Korea probably has nuclear weapon, and I think for U.S. and China, first, one priority, let North Korea do not continue on the way of nuclear because that’s not peaceful. War…it’s not good. Better way is negotiation.”

Wang Min, an attorney, answered our questions in Chinese. “I think President Trump is generally a good person and U.S.-China

relations are the most important in the world,” she said. “And, I note that Trump comes after the 19th Party Congress. I hope this visit will help people’s daily lives.”