Public and Elite Views of the U.S.-China Relationship

Amid the search for a new type of major power relationship between the United States and China, understanding public and elite attitudes has never been more important. Mutual perceptions in the United States and China have a growing influence on the bilateral security relationship, affecting how policymakers manage conflicts and seek cooperation.

This event launched a new report published jointly by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the China Strategic Culture Promotion Association in Beijing. The report analyzes the results and policy implications of public and elite opinion surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center and the Research Center on Contemporary China at Peking University.

Michael D. Swaine presented the key findings, including assessments of the level of trust between the United States and China as well as each side’s threat perceptions and preferences for global order. J. Stapleton Roy offered comments.

Complimentary copies of the report were available at the event. 

Michael D. Swaine

Michael D. Swaine is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and one of the most prominent American analysts in Chinese security studies. Formerly a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, Swaine is a specialist in Chinese defense and foreign policy, U.S.–China relations, and East Asian international relations.

J. Stapleton Roy

J. Stapleton Roy is a distinguished scholar and founding director emeritus of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. An expert on U.S. foreign policy and Asia, he served for fourty-five years in the U.S. Foreign Service, including posts as the ambassador to Singapore, China, and Indonesia and as assistant secretary of State for intelligence and research.

Phillip C. Saunders

Phillip Saunders is the director of studies and the director of the Center for Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the National Defense University's Institute for National Strategic Studies. He previously worked at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, where he served as director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program and taught courses on Chinese politics, Chinese foreign policy, and East Asian security.