Wealthy Hong Kong donors answer call of US Republican presidential hopefuls
Jeb Bush supporters each pay US$2,700 to hear Republican's thoughts on China and his tax plans in a video conference call to Hong Kong
Money from influential Americans living in Hong Kong and mainland China is pouring into the campaign coffers of US presidential hopefuls eyeing the potential wealth and votes from their countrymen abroad.
Among those tapping into this source of funds is Republican candidate Jeb Bush, who is backed by an independent body that has received US$100,000 from Hang Lung Group chairman Ronnie Chan Chi-chung.
Bush, now languishing in opinion polls behind Republican front runner Donald Trump, spent almost an hour on Wednesday morning, Hong Kong time, lobbying an invitation-only group of supporters who each paid US$2,700 to hear him out in a video conference.
He finished filming for the debut show of US television host Stephen Colbert on Tuesday evening, US time, before heading to the offices of American football team New York Jets to call the donors waiting in a Hong Kong skyscraper conference room.
"He spoke for about 10 minutes and told us some entertaining bits of the Colbert show, then some policy aspects and then opened up to questions," said lawyer Michael DeSombre, who was one of six fundraising organisers that also included Frank Lavin, US ambassador to Singapore from 2001 to 2005.