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)