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China and US - the national image in each other’s eyes

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3.The role of a major power

Very low percentages of the U.S. public and American elites thought the United States should be the single world leader. Similarly low shares of China’s public and elites felt that China should be the single world leader. However, strong majorities of the elites from both the United States and China felt that their own country should play a shared global leadership role. While 74 percent of the U.S. public shared this attitude, only 45 percent of the Chinese public did. In partial contrast, among those Chinese who felt Beijing should play a shared leadership role in the world, a strong majority of both China’s elites and the general public said China should be neither more nor less assertive than other leading nations.

[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

Clear majorities in every U.S. elite category believed that global stability is best served by American dominance. Not a single U.S. elite respondent favored China replacing America as the leading superpower. Nonetheless, sizeable minorities of America’s elites (including as high as 45 percent of business executives) favored a balance of power between the United States and China.

Strong majorities of China’s public and elites identified the United States as the country that posed the greatest threat to China, ranging from 63 percent among the public to 81 percent among business executives. America’s public and its elites generally viewed China’s emergence as a world power as a far less serious threat to the well-being of the United States than other enumerated threats, such as international financial instability, Iran’s nuclear program, Islamic extremism, and North Korea’s nuclear program.

4.Challenges in bilateral relations

The majority of American elites surveyed prioritized building a strong U.S.-China relationship above all else. Clear majorities of the U.S. public stressed the importance of being tough with China on economic and trade issues (56 percent); building a strong relationship with China (55 percent); and promoting human rights (53 percent). Much smaller percentages of the U.S. public said the same about advocating more freedom for Tibet (36 percent) and continuing to sell arms to Taiwan (21 percent).

Certain economic issues were also mentioned as priorities by U.S. the elite groups—especially protecting intellectual property, improving cybersecurity, and opening up Chinese markets to U.S. exports.

5.To understand each other’s baseline in the Western Pacific region

The elites from both countries believed that the abstract concept of mutual trust is not so important - they are more concerned about how to truly strengthen bilateral ties. Both sides agreed that China and U.S. are partners and competitors at the same time, or something in between. One U.S. participant speculated that this could signify that U.S. elites feel that the United States and China are at a critical point when bilateral cooperation could be very positive and beneficial, but that tensions could worsen down the road. Therefore, now is the time to take action and implement confidence-building measures to prevent the relationship from deteriorating.

In addition, elite groups from both countries hold different views on how to best serve each other’s interests and guarantee international peace and stability. American elite groups are more inclined to support a unipolar world to continue U.S. dominance, while their Chinese counterparts prefer a multi-polarization system. The difference could represent a major challenge to the bilateral relationship, especially in the Western Pacific region, where China’s economic and military powers continue to increase.

Shi Yinhong, an international problem expert, said: “Some problems can’t be solved immediately. But as long as we understand the core interests and baseline of the other country, we can maintain a respectful attitude.” He added that on the Taiwan issue, China and the U.S. have reached a basic consensus. Now the most important thing is the strategic space of China and U.S. in the Western Pacific region, where China’s strategic vision may influence America’s strategic reality.

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