As Trump bashed China, he sought business deals with its govt

Beijing

EVEN as US presidential candidate Donald Trump aggressively condemned Beijing, his hotel firm pursued a lucrative business deal with a giant state-owned Chinese firm headed by a top Communist official, sources say.

Mr Trump has long declared Beijing to be America's "enemy", but his Trump Hotel Collection (THC) negotiated with the State Grid Corporation of China - an electricity company that is the country's largest state-owned enterprise - to brand and manage a major development in the capital, according to sources with direct knowledge of the talks.

The process resulted in a memorandum of understanding for a deal potentially …