The results on Sunday of the first U.S. Republican party primary in America's south have solidified the position of Donald Trump, the mercurial mogul and reality television star, as the clear frontrunner for his party's presidential nomination. His impressive victory comes despite an unorthodox campaign and a series of provocative pronouncements that have flummoxed pundits, the Washington political establishment, and foreign observers, including those in Asia.
With his latest victory, Trump also appears to be winning new converts, including in China, a country he has harshly criticized for manipulating its currency and stealing American jobs. Once dismissed as a joke on Chinese social media sites, Trump is now being touted by some as an honest -- if unpredictable -- truth-teller, mainly due to his criticism of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
