Today the Financial Times reports on a new survey commissioned by the Committee of 100, which describes itself as a “non-partisan organization composed of prominent American citizens of Chinese descent.” The Times’ headline proclaims Chinese imports valued over US jobs, but the published results don’t back it up. The only pieces of evidence are that … over 60% … including union members, consider low cost goods from China as a benefit to the American consumer. Over 70% … consider economic trade with China as beneficial to the US.
So? Cheap goods and brisk commerce are good in themselves, but the question is: how much of them will you trade for your neighbor’s job, and your own? We hope that the head of the polling firm is wrong when he says of the survey that Americans are consumers first. Alas, it may be true, but there are some signs to the contrary: 64% of Opinion Leaders [and] 46% of the General Public … advocate linking China’s trading status to its human rights record … and there are strong feelings in both groups against the country’s military threat, degradation of the environment, etc.
In any event, we can’t take too seriously a poll financed by a committee of 100 China boosters. Let’s simply marvel that Both Opinion Leader and General Public groups see China as an ally of the United States ranking above Saudi Arabia and France. And that Twenty three percent of Americans say that they have a friend or family member that adopted a Chinese baby.
To paraphrase Godfather Michael Corleone, I’m going to find out who the Chinese baby in my family is.