Almost 80 percent of Chinese people feel good about people from
the United States and most were satisfied with the Sino-US
relations, results of a recent poll show.
The poll, carried out in late February by the Global
Times, a publication of the leading newspaper People's
Daily, showed that 60 percent of Chinese are generally
satisfied with the Sino-US ties, and nearly 20 percent are
satisfied or very satisfied with bilateral ties.
The survey was conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou,
Chongqing and Wuhan.
Some 36.7 percent of the interviewees regarded the United States
as a cooperative partner, 23.5 percent said it is an example to
learn from and 16.1 percent said the United States is a friendly
country.
However, about 60 percent of the interviewees said "yes" on
whether the United States is striving to restrain China, about the
same as last year's survey.
The Taiwan issue is an important factor in forming the Chinese
public opinion about the United States. About 60 percent of the
interviewees said the Taiwan question was the most important issue
in Sino-US ties and most of the interviewees were unsatisfied with
US arms sales to Taiwan.
On Sino-US trade ties, 66.6 percent of the interviewees said it
stimulated China's economic progress and 44.5 percent said it
promoted reforms in China.
The majority of respondents thought the United States benefited
more than China from the booming trade. Rising trade disputes also
sparked lot of concern.
(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2006)