Cautious public praise for Obama's China visit
- Source: Global Times
- [21:21 November 15 2009]
- Comments
Editor's Note:
US President Barack Obama began his first visit to China Sunday, and will be in the country till Wednesday, sparking much attention from the Chinese public. The following are interviews conducted by Global Times reporters Chen Chenchen and Wang Yuan with four Chinese citizens from different industries. Each discussed their personal thoughts on Obama's visit and China-US relations.
Yuan Yue, founder and chairman of Horizon Research Consultancy Group, China's biggest independent professional research and consultancy firm conducting public opinion polling
According to Horizon Group's latest survey, conducted this June in China's 10 major cities, ordinary Chinese people's favorable attitudes toward the US are at their highest point for years – 63.8 percent of the 3,000 participants "emotionally like or very like the US,"63.98 percent agree that "the US is economically the most important country for China,"and 33.57 percent consider that "the US will become China's closest partner in security cooperation."
The Obama administration has generally delivered positive signals to China in the past months, despite the recent trade friction between the two countries. In my experience, trade conflicts do not trigger grass-roots anger, unless such conflicts exert significant impacts on economic situation.
Besides, according to our survey, currently more than 60 percent of Chinese agree that "the US welcomes China growing strong, and keeps cooperative relations with China,"though more than 30 percent think that "the US is trying to prevent China from growing stronger."The former percentage is much higher than that of two or three years ago – during the Bush administration, the figure was about 40 percent.
Nowadays, some US politicians have unprecedentedly shown their modesty when speaking of China. It's also expected that Obama will continue to encourage China to adopt economic stimulus policies. The US's modesty satisfies the psychological demand of ordinary Chinese as citizens of a grow-ing power.
Most Chinese understand that China is not the most powerful country in the world. Moreover, the US is not adopting a containment policy.
Some 10 years ago, before former President Bill Clinton visited China, our public opinion polls showed that only 40 to 50 percent of Chinese people held favorable attitude toward the US.
However, the percentage surged to 79 percent after Clinton declared the newly phrased policy toward Taiwan during that visit. Obama may also declare his government's detailed policies toward China during his visit, or wait and see what he can get from the US-China cooperation.
Ordinary people in the two countries are actually quite similar to each other. Both are open-minded, diligent, pragmatic and willing to try fresh things. Many Chinese use US computers, shampoos, and observe American festivals, just as Americans nowadays use chopsticks, play with toys made in China, and wear clothing manufactured here.
