Over the past few months, President Xi Jinping has repeatedly reiterated the importance of people-to-people exchanges or civilian diplomacy between China and the United States in promoting relations between the two countries. On June 16, Xi met with American entrepreneur Bill Gates and said: “People are the foundation of China-US relations, and we count on the American people and hope for lasting friendship between the two peoples.” On June 28, Xi sent a congratulatory letter to the “Bond with Kuliang: 2023 China-US People-to-People Friendship Forum”, stressing that the friendship between countries lies in the affinity of the people and the foundation for the development of state-to-state relations lies in the two peoples. In August, in reply to a letter from the US-China Youth and Student Exchange Association and friends from all walks of life in Washington state of the US, Xi emphasized that to expand China-US relations, the hope and foundation lie in the people, and the future lies with the youth. On Aug 29, in his reply to a letter from General Joseph Stilwell’s descendant, John Easterbrook, Xi pointed out that the people form the foundation of the China-US relationship, and people-to-people friendship is the source of its growth, emphasizing that the two peoples should strengthen exchanges, enhance understanding, and expand cooperation to inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations. On Sept 12, in reply to a letter from the chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation and Flying Tigers veterans, Xi noted that “in growing China-US relations, the hope lies in the people, the foundation lies among the people, and the future lies with the youth.”
Xi’s speech at the joint welcome dinner by US-based friendly organizations in San Francisco on Nov 15 is even more revealing. Xi emphasized that the people of China and the US laid the foundation of China-US relations, opened the door of China-US relations, wrote the stories of China-US relations, and went on to create the future of China-US relations. At the end of his speech, Xi issued a clarion call, “For any great cause to succeed, it must take root in the people, gain strength from the people, and be accomplished by the people. Growing China-US friendship is such a great cause.”
Xi pins high hopes on the interaction between the two peoples because the relationship between China and the US has reached a point of high tension. In the past decade or so, in addition to using every possible means to contain China’s rise, the US’ political and media elites have also spread untrue, biased and pernicious information to discredit China and portray it as a “lethal threat” to the US, thus creating a toxic political atmosphere and a highly negative image of China among the American people. The distrust and hostility of American people toward China intensifies the animosity of American political and media elites toward China, thus forming a vicious cycle detrimental to China-US relations.
The negative attitude of the American people toward China is demonstrated in several recently published opinion polls. A report released by the Pew Research Center on April 12 noted that 83 percent of US adults had negative views of China. The share of those with unfavorable views had increased by four percentage points to 44 percent since last year, and around four in 10 Americans viewed China as an enemy of the US rather than a competitor or a partner — up 13 points since last year.
On March 7, Gallup reported a record-low of Americans viewing China favorably, marking a five-percentage-point decline in this rating; more than eight in 10 US adults had a negative opinion of China; more Americans named China the US’ greatest enemy than any other nation by a wide margin.
The 2023 Chicago Council on Global Affairs Survey, conducted from Sept 7 to 18, found Americans were more concerned about the rise of China than at any point since the end of the Cold War.
In this strained China-US relationship, starting to work on the US political and media elites to improve the relations between the two countries is a nonstarter. Given that these people’s hostility toward China stems from many deep-seated, stubborn psychological, cultural and even racial factors, it is almost impossible to change their attitude toward China. On the contrary, ordinary American people’s perceptions and feelings about China are more malleable. This is why Xi’s strategic judgment of “China-US relations is among the people” is sagacious and has implications. He firmly believes that if the people of the two countries have more exchanges, communication and cooperation, the negative image and feelings of American people toward China can be corrected. A public opinion atmosphere that is friendlier to China will compel the political and media elites in the US to temper their hostility toward China.
It can be expected that after the Xi-Biden summit on Nov 15, China will intensify its efforts to promote exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and American civil society organizations and people, especially in the areas of education, culture, science and technology, economy and trade, to inject momentum to people-to-people diplomacy or Track Two (backchannel) diplomacy.
Some Americans who are friendly to China have been complaining that the channels for people-to-people exchanges between the two countries have narrowed in recent years, and they should be encouraged by Xi’s people-to-people diplomacy initiative. Farah Stockman, a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, expressed nostalgia for the golden years of frequent people-to-people exchanges between the two countries in the past. I believe that there are many Americans like Stockman who are friendly to China.
However, we must be aware that there are still many Americans who harbor a dislike for China. They will view the strengthening of people-to-people exchanges between China and the US with cynicism and imagined conspiracy theories. Instead of responding enthusiastically, they will obstruct it in many ways. In the minds of these people, China does not have what they consider a “civil society” at all. They arbitrarily believe that all civil organizations in China are established, led, or funded by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and, therefore, have no “autonomy”. Xi’s call for stronger “China-US relations among the people” will be interpreted by these people as an attempt by the CPC to use China’s civilian organizations to “infiltrate,” “divide” and “sabotage” American politics and society, thereby achieving the purpose of weakening and subverting the US.
On March 28, a report of the Heritage Foundation Special Report, written by James J. Carafano et al., “Winning the New Cold War: A Plan for Countering China”, put forward a slew of policy recommendations, some of which have to do with people-to-people contacts between the two countries. They include, among others, banning all Confucian Institutes, banning all collaborations between US institutions and Chinese entities affiliated with China’s Ministry of State Security or other security and intelligence agencies, and denying Chinese citizens access to Department of Defense-funded research programs.
China will inevitably encounter many impediments in promoting exchanges between the people of China and the US under the current tense atmosphere between the two countries. However, China still needs to face up to the difficulties and forge ahead, which would require incomparable patience, determination and skills. China needs to win over those Americans who agree that the Chinese and American people need more exchanges and interactions. Moreover, China must robustly refute those remarks that harm public attitudes toward China-US people-to-people interactions. Many Americans and civil society organizations are still willing to actively participate in various China-US nongovernmental exchange programs and activities despite the obstruction of anti-communist and anti-China forces. In the end, the results of people-to-people diplomacy will vindicate that it will benefit both countries and the world.
Hong Kong can also take advantage of the “one country, two systems” policy, its liberal and open environment, its long-term close ties with the West, and the active involvement of its elites in the international arena to play an essential role in promoting China-US people-to-people diplomacy. Even if the anti-communist and anti-China elites in the US have doubts about Hong Kong’s civil organizations and prominent individuals, they cannot completely deny the independence and autonomy of Hong Kong’s civil society and individuals and effectively interfere with their work.
The author is a professor emeritus of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and consultant to the Chinese Association of Hong Kong & Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
