Americans’ views of China ‘improving’
CHINESE President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump are due to meet in Floridatoday and tomorrow to set the tone for the future development of bilateral relations.
The Mar-a-Lago meeting, the first between the two presidents since Trump took office in January, will dispense with much of the formality usually entailed in a state visit, focusing on effective communication of issues of common concern.
In the run-up to the meeting, a new US poll released on Tuesday found that Americans’ views of China have improved.
The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center, showed that 44% of Americans have a favourable view of China, a 7% rise over a year ago.
The rise might be related to the easing of Americans’ concerns about the US economy, Pew said.
Fifty-eight percent of Americans say the US economic situation is either very or somewhat good, up from 44% last year and 40% in 2015.
There are notable differences along partisan lines, with Democrats more likely than Republicans or independents to offer a positive opinion of China, Pew said.
Despite the negative rhetoric about China by candidates during last year’s presidential campaign, ratings of China have become more positive among Republicans and Democrats – 39% of Republicans have a favourable opinion of China, up from 27% a year ago.
Among Democrats, 49% hold a favourable opinion, up from 39% a year ago, the poll found.
Americans are more worried about China’s economic strengthening, at 52% than its military power, at 36%.
A veteran US diplomat said a sound China-US relationship featuring win-win co-operation benefits for Chinese and American people, would serve as a bedrock and key element of global stability.
“There’s a long tradition from (US presidents Richard) Nixon through to (Ronald) Reagan, (Bill) Clinton, both (George) Bushes and (Barack) Obama, of strong, co-operative ties between the US and China,” Robert Hormats, vice-chairperson of Kissinger Associates, said.
“One of the things that is remarkable about US-China relations is that the US policy has not been partisan – the Republicans under Nixon did not differ much with Democrats under (Jimmy) Carter, and the Bushes’ and Obama’s views were similar,” he said. “It has not been partisan, and it should not be.”
The 73-year-old veteran diplomat was involved in the thawing and normalisation of China-US relations in the 1970s under the Nixon administration, and also served as a senior adviser to Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, all big names closely associated with US diplomacy toward China.