China bashing is not likely to win any level of election campaigns, said Donimic Ng, the Committee of 100 chairman.

As advocates of being constructive toward all, the Committee of 100 released guidelines for political candidates on China-related issues this year. The goal is to promote "constructive and productive debates" instead of "racially based stereotypes".

The Committee of 100 is a non-partisan organization focused on addressing issues important to the Chinese-American community and furthering US-China relations.

The US and China, the world's two largest economies, face issues regarding trade, currency evaluation, outsourcing of jobs, the environment and human rights. Instead of honestly dealing with these, some candidates resort to China bashing, Ng said.

"That's very unhealthy," he said. "Politicians need to be mindful that China bashing doesn't hurt only US-China relations, but also negatively affects Chinese-Americans, even Asian Americans."

Ng suggested political candidates maintain a positive mind-set. "It would be appropriate for the Democratic and Republican parties to talk about creating jobs - how the US and China can work together to reduce the unemployment rate."

China bashing does not help a political campaign. "I haven't seen the momentum of someone running a negative ad against China and then winning the race," Ng said.

The Committee of 100 surveyed the perceptions of the US and China toward each other and found lack of trust between the two.

The survey found that the Chinese public has favorable views of US citizens and US citizens have favorable views of the Chinese. But neither of them have enough trust in the other's governments, Ng said.

Lack of trust comes from a lack of understanding.

"There should be a lot more cultural exchange, academic exchange ... The more we talk, the more we seek common ground and try to respect each other," Ng said.

Ernest Wilson, dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California, and Wang Jisi, dean of the School of International Relations of Peking University, have spearheaded the creation of a trust-building committee between the two countries. The Committee of 100 sponsored the project, which will identify areas that the US and China need to work on together.

Proud of being an American citizen of Chinese descent, Ng said he identifies with other Committee of 100 members. "As much as we love our home country today, which is the United States, we never forget our culture and heritage."

He said he believes that if the US public better understood the historical perspective of China and of Chinese culture, it would understand much more clearly why there is such a difference between the US and China, and "they would be more likely to respect the difference and seek common ground".

wangjun@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 10/22/2012 page11)