U.S.-China Economic and Political Relations:
Youths’ Perceptions
Anna Shostya & Joseph C. Morreale
Published online: 9 January 2014
# International Atlantic Economic Society 2014
Abstract This paper is a study of the perceptions of young adults in the U.S. and
China on the relations between the two nations. We conducted a case study by
distributing a 17 question survey to 201 American undergraduate students (NYC)
and 164 Chinese undergraduate students (Shanghai). The questions probed their views
of U.S. and China’s economic and political systems, the future economic growth and
political power in the world of the two nations, and the future political and economic
relations between the two powers. The results of our study reveal a number of
important perceptions that both U.S. and Chinese students have, some being similar
and others being in sharp contrast. Most students in both countries view future political
and economic relations between the U.S. and China predominantly as cooperative but
only based on each nation’s self-interests. Both Chinese and American students agree
that China is gaining political strength and economic influence among the advanced
and the emerging nations of the world. While most of the U.S. students believe that
China has been and will continue to grow at a much faster rate than the U.S., Chinese
students are more likely to believe that this rate of growth is unsustainable. The results
from our survey are compared and contrasted to the findings of national surveys for
both countries.We believe that the study provides valuable insights into the similarities
and differences in viewpoints of the next generation of adults in both nations about
future U.S.-China relations.
Keywords Youths’ perceptions . U.S.-China political and economic relations . Political
and economic systems . Relative economic growth . U.S.-China relative future political
power