Committee of 100 Urges Focus on Mutual Interests in Trump-Xi Summit

NEW YORK, April 6, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in the United States today for his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, bolstered by significant domestic Chinese support and increased Chinese optimism about the country's trajectory. Initial findings from the forthcoming Committee of 100 (C100) U.S.-China Public Perceptions and Opinion Survey 2017 reveal that 92% of Chinese respondents think China is headed on the right track. Relative to four years ago, there is also greater Chinese support for China's leaders to grow their international stature through diplomacy and take a global leadership role.

With more Chinese believing that the U.S.-China relationship will improve (32%) rather than worsen (23%) under the Trump administration, today's meeting comes with high expectations on both sides. "This moment is the opportune time for both countries and their leaders to set the bilateral relationship on a hopeful and mutually beneficial path," said Frank H. Wu, Chairman of C100.

The C100 survey also revealed that while each country had concerns about the other – with Americans most worried about the trade deficit, loss of U.S. jobs to China, and cybersecurity, and the Chinese most concerned about the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region and the issue of Taiwan – there were also areas of common concern around issues of climate change and North Korea.

For the first time, Americans and Chinese are in agreement about the main areas in which both countries would benefit from working together: trade, global financial stability, and the environment.

At this critical inflection point in U.S.-China relations, these areas of common interest between the two countries should invite expanded cooperation and creative collaboration at the highest levels. C100 urges the leaders of both countries to seize this opportunity to focus on issues of mutual interest and exercise collective global leadership. 

These initial findings are part of the Committee of 100 U.S.-China Public Perceptions Survey 2017. The full survey will be released in May 2017 around the C100 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1990, C100 is a leadership organization of prominent Chinese Americans in business, government, academia, and the arts. C100's survey project began in 1994 and produced surveys in 2001, 2005, 2007, 2012, and 2017. Learn more.

CONTACT: Holly Chang, Executive Director, 212-371-6565, [email protected]

SOURCE Committee of 100

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http://www.committee100.org/