East meets West
On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to arrive in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which will include a meeting with Joe Biden — their first in over a year.
Jinping hasn’t stepped foot in the States since talking airstrikes with Trump over a "beautiful piece of chocolate cake" 6 years ago. Following China's economy showing signs of stalling, at the top of this year's agenda is the $760bn in trade between the two countries: a complicated economic relationship that’s been strained by tariffs, trade wars, security breaches, and spy balloons in recent years.
Chimerica
Correspondingly, US public opinion of China has only worsened in that period. According to a YouGov survey, those considering China an "enemy" of America grew to 80% in Aug 2023, up from ~39% in the same month in 2017, while those considering the country as an "ally" shrunk considerably to just 8.7% as of August.
On the other hand, a separate poll saw a surge in positive attitudes towards the US amongst Chinese citizens: in April 2022, over 80% of Chinese respondents viewed the US as an enemy; by 2023, this figure had fallen to less than 50%. Even so, the two presidents have their work cut out for them if they are to mollify years of mounting distrust on both sides: 75% of Chinese pollees reported still being concerned about US-China tensions.
