Americans believe US-China ties good for them: poll

Most Americans believe close relationship between the United States and China is good for their country, according to a latest poll on Tuesday.

Most adults and opinion leaders in the US say a close relationship between the US and China is a good thing for the US. About eight in ten Americans and 88 per cent of US opinion leaders say this, a Gallup-China Daily USA study said.

However, about six in 10 in both groups say China's growing influence in the world is bad for the US, it said. According to the opinion poll, perceptions about the development of US-China relations over the past decade are varied in the US.

Americans are slightly more likely to say relations between the US and China have improved or stayed the same in the last 10 years than to say they have declined.

About one-third of Americans (35 per cent) and 43 per cent of US opinion leaders say relations between the US and China have improved in the last decade. Twenty-eight per cent of US adults and 22 per cent of US opinion leaders say relations have declined, and one-third of each group says relations have stayed the same, it said.

When asked about their own opinions of China, about half of each group says their personal views of China have not changed in the last five years.

One in five Americans and 28 per cent of US opinion leaders say their opinion has improved. For 28 per cent of US adults and 22 per cent of opinion leaders opinions have declined over the same time span, the poll said.

While most Americans say strong relations between China and the US are important, they also perceive major barriers to achieving this. Three-fourths note a lack of trust between the two countries as a major barrier.

Majorities also see the trade imbalance, an increasing demand for natural resources, and different political systems as major barriers to strong US-China relations, it said.

"US opinion leaders hold similar views as the general public about barriers to strong US-China relations with lack of trust topping the list. Opinion leaders are less likely than US adults to say cultural misunderstandings are a major barrier, at 40 percent and 48 percent, respectively," the poll said.

Another perceived barrier to strong US-China relations could be Americans' perceptions of China as a military threat. About half of the American public (51 per cent) and 60 per cent of opinion leaders say China's growing military is a threat to US national security. Eighteen percent of US adults and 17 per cent of opinion leaders disagree, it said.