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‘They want her as president’: Ivanka Trump a ‘goddess’ in China

"You hardly read negative reports about her."

"You hardly read negative reports about her." Photo: Getty

United States first daughter Ivanka Trump may be a divisive figure in her home country, but in China media outlets and social networking sites praise her as a “goddess”.

Chinese social media site Weibo is loaded full of fan pages for the mother of three, who has actively engaged with Chinese government, culture and business since her father was elected president.

Posts by Weibo users compare her looks to that of famous Chinese actress Fan BingBing, while others praise her business savvy.

“No matter what the President of the United States is anyway, [Ivanka] is my goddess – looks beautiful, good business woman and found a super powerful, super handsome husband,” one Weibo user posted.

According to The New York Post, a fan page titled ‘Goddess Ivanka’ on networking site Weibo has more than 12,700 followers.

RMIT University fellow Guosheng Chen spends a lot of time monitoring Chinese media, especially WeChat, and says public sentiment towards Ms Trump is overwhelmingly positive.

“You hardly read negative reports about her,” Ms Chen, who specialises in Chinese language and social studies, told The New Daily.

“Chinese people normally appreciate people who fight very hard career-wise – they appreciate her in a professional capacity.”

Ms Chen said Ms Trump’s supermodel good looks are appreciated by younger generations, and many Chinese people feel she played “a very significant role in melting down and easing political tension”.

Ms Chen specifically cited Ms Trump’s visit to the Chinese embassy in Washington for Chinese New Year this year with her five-year-old daughter Arabella in tow.

More recently, Arabella performed a Chinese song for Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit for President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago summit.

Ms Trump’s speeches are also widely circulated on WeChat with Mandarin subtitles.

“One hundred per cent of people adore her speeches. A speech talking about how she handles work and her children has been watched by millions of Chinese worldwide, including myself,” Ms Chen said.

“She’s intelligent and very professional. A lot of the Chinese younger generation wish for her to be the president in the near future.”

Ms Trump faced criticism this week after it was revealed her clothing and accessories company secured three new trademarks from the Chinese government on the same day she and her father met with President Jinping.

While US experts raised ethical concerns, on Thursday China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang said the trademark requests were processed fairly.

“There are perhaps some media engaging in hyping certain gossip to hint at something undisclosed. I can tell you that they will never succeed,” Mr Lu told the Associated Press.

One of Ms Trump’s biggest Chinese fans is her close friend Wendi Deng, former wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who paid tribute to Ms Trump for Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People issue.

“While the world has come to know Ivanka Trump as the nation’s First Daughter—as well as an entrepreneur and a devoted wife and mother—I have had the privilege of calling her my dear friend for 12 years,” Ms Deng wrote.

“As modern working moms, we have faced many of the same challenges and joys, and she has become a trusted counsel in my life.

“Ivanka continues to earn my respect and admiration for how she has chosen to use her new visibility. My daughters have long looked up to her. Now women and girls around the globe can look up to her too.”

Topics: Ivanka Trump
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