Young adults stress key role of Sino-US ties ahead of Xi's trip

Nearly 80 percent of young adults from the United States taking part in a survey have shown a keen interest in President Xi Jinping's first state visit to their country this week.

Half of them feel that Sino-US relations are the most important bilateral tie for Washington, according to a survey released by China Daily over the weekend.

About 55 percent of US respondents said they were aware of Xi's visit and nearly 76 percent wanted to know more about the trip.

The one-month survey, conducted by the China Daily website and the Public Relations and Public Opinion Institute of Communication University of China, involved 2,176 participants ages 18 to 28 from China and the US, with most of them studying as undergraduates.

About 55 percent of the US respondents and 49 percent of their Chinese counterparts regard Sino-US relations as the most important bilateral ties. More than 70 percent of the US respondents were optimistic about these relations, thinking they will improve, the survey found.

More than 82 percent of US participants said they appreciated China and the Chinese people, and 70 percent said they had gained an understanding of China from the Internet.

According to the survey, the Internet plays a key role in enabling US youngsters to learn about China and issues related to the country, especially cybersecurity.

This will be one of the major issues that Xi and his US counterpart Barack Obama will discuss, along with military contacts, trade cooperation, energy, aviation and law enforcement, Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said last week.

The state visit will take place from Tuesday to Friday, after which Xi will attend summits in New York related to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

The New York Times reported that the Chinese government will co-host a forum with Microsoft on Wednesday in Seattle. Top Internet officials and representatives from technology giants from the two nations, including Baidu, Alibaba, Apple and Google, are expected to attend.

The visit and high-profile forum, as well as the survey, have triggered keen interest from specialists in cyberspace.

Wang Sixin, a law professor at Communication University of China, said it is good to see young people from the two countries caring more about the Internet and associated problems, including hacking.

Zuo Xiaodong, vice-president of the China Information Security Research Institute, said the survey reflected the desire for understanding and cooperation from young people in both countries.