They like us, they really like us

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I’ve always thought that the Committee of 100 has a terrible name. It’s a national non-partisan organization of Americans of Chinese descent; the name makes it sound terribly communist. And boring. (Also, how come I’m not on this committee? The outrage! Oh, right. It’s because I’m not a world-class cellist, a CEO, or a Time magazine man of the year.)

But I digress before I’ve begun. Despite its terrible name, the Committee of 100 does interesting work. One of its missions is for greater understanding between China and the U.S. Last week, it released a survey conducted among the populations of both countries, asking citizens how they perceived each other. Here are a some of their findings:

• 60% of Chinese have a favorable impression of the U.S. and 26% have a negative impression. 52% of Americans have a favorable impression of China, with 45% looking at the Middle Kingdom unfavorably.
• 82% of Chinese believe that bilateral trade benefits both countries. 72% of Americans feel the same.
• Chinese respondents say that the U.S. is their country’s most important global partner, with Russia second. American respondents believe that the United Kingdom and Japan are their two most important relationships. China comes in at #3. 

But maybe the reason the Chinese like the Americans so much is because they’re not worried. The most interesting data looks at projected superpower status. Twenty years from now, only 49% of Americans and a mere 20% of Chinese think that the U.S. will be the world’s leading power, whereas 55% of Chinese and 23% of Americans think that China will lead. To see the complete survey, which also has public opinion data on product safety, the environment, and Taiwan, click here (PDF).